Section 


MAGIC    IN    NAMES 
AND  IN   OTHER  THINGS 


..-rorFn^ivJf)^ 


MAGIC   IN   NAkE*^^'^'^"'^ 

AND  IN  OTHER  THINGS 


BY 

EDWARD  'CLODD 

AUTHOR   OF 
■THE    CHILDHOOD   OF    THE   WORLD,'    "  THE    STORY   OF   CREATION,"    ETC. 


"To  classify  things  is  to  name  them,  and  the  name  of 
a  thing,  or  of  a  group  of  things,  is  its  soul;  to  Itnow 
their  names  is  to  have  power  over  their  soul.  Language, 
that  stupendous  product  of  the  collective  mind,  is  a 
duplicate,  a  shadow-soul,  of  the  whole  structure  of  reality ; 
it  is  the  most  effective  and  comprehensive  tool  of  human 
power,  for  nothing,  whether  human  or  superhuman,  is 
beyond  its  reach." 

F.  M.  CoRNFORD,  From  Religion  to  Philosophy,  p.   I41. 


NEW   YORK 

E.  P.  BUTTON   &    COMPANY 

1921 


Printed  in  Great  Britain. 


PREFATORY   NOTE 

The  world-wide  superstition,  examples  of  which 
form  the  staple  of  this  book,  has  scarcely  received 
the  attention  warranted  by  the  important  part 
which  it  has  played,  and  still  plays,  in  savage  and 
civilized  belief  and  ritual. 

The  book  is  an  enlargement  of  a  lecture  on 
"  Magic  in  Names,"  delivered  at  the  Royal 
Institution  in  March  1917.  There  are  incor- 
porated into  it  some  portions  of  an  Essay 
on  Savage  Philosophy  in  Folk-lore,  which  was 
published  in  1898.  The  book  has  been  long  out 
of  print,  and  I  beg  to  thank  Messrs.  Duckworth 
and  Co.  for  permission  to  make  extracts 
therefrom. 

I  have  also  to  thank  my  wife  for  her  valued 
help  in  the  tedious  work  of  revision  of  proof 
sheets, 

E.G. 

Strafford  House, 

Aldeburgh,  Suffolk. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP. 

I.    Magic  and  Religion 


11. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


Mana  in  Tangible  Things 
(a)  mana  in  blood 

{b)  „  HAIR   and   teeth 

(c)  „  SALIVA      . 

(d)  „  IN    PORTRAIT      . 

Mana  in  Intangible  Things  . 
(a)  mana  in  shadows 


id) 

(e) 

(/) 

(g) 
{h) 

(i) 

ii) 


REFLECTIONS   AND    ECHOES 

PERSONAL   NAMES 

NAMES    OF   RELATIVES 

BIRTH    AND    BAPTISMAL   NAMES 

INITIATION    NAMES      . 

EUPHEMISMS       . 

NAMES    OF   KINGS   AND    PRIESTS 

NAMES    OF   THE    DEAD 

NAMES    OF   GODS 


Mana  in  Words 

(a)  CREATIVE   WORDS 

(b)  mantrams 

(c)  PASSWORDS      . 
{d)    CURSES   . 

(e)  spells  and  amulets 
(/)  cure-charms 

The  Name  and  the  Soul 
Index     .... 


TAOU 
1 

10 
12 
13 
17 
28 

27 

27 

33 

86 

51 

64 

88 

88 

109 

121 

181 

157 
159 
163 
170 
173 
182 
194 

224 
233 


Vll 


MAGIC    IN    NAMES 
CHAPTER  I 

MAGIC   AND   RELIGION 

In  an  article  on  "  magic "  contributed  to 
Hastings's  E?icyclopcedia  of  Religion  and  Ethics, 
Dr.  Marett  says  that  "  the  problem  of  its  defini- 
tion constitutes  a  veritable  storm-centre  in  the 
anthropological  literature  of  to-day." 

In  this  disturbed  zone  the  questions  of  (1)  the 
origin  and  elements  of  magic,  and  (2)  its  place 
in  the  order  of  man's  spiritual  evolution,  are 
discussed.  Upon  each  of  these  only  brief  com- 
ment is  here  necessary. 

As  to  the  first  question,  one  set  of  combatants 
contend  that  magic  is  "  pseudo-science  "  ^ — "  the 
physics  of  the  savage,"  as  Dr.  Adolf  Bastian 
defines  it.  "  It  cannot,"  says  Sir  Alfred  Lyall, 
"  be  doubted  that  magic  is  founded  on  some  dim 
notion  of  cause  and  effect  which  is  the  necessary 
basis  of  all  human  reasoning  and  experience."  ^ 

1  Primitive  Culture,  by  Sir  E.  B.  Tylor,  Vol.  I.  pp.  112, 
119  (Third  Edition). 

2  Asiatic  Studies,  2nd  Series,  p.  182. 

B 


2  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

In  agreement  with  this,  Sir  James  Frazer  says 
that  "  the  analogy  between  the  magical  and  the 
scientific  conceptions  of  the  world  is  close.  In 
both  of  them  the  succession  of  events  is  perfectly 
regular  and  certain,  being  determined  by  immut- 
able laws,  the  operation  of  which  can  be  foreseen 
and  calculated  precisely ;  the  elements  of  caprice, 
of  chance,  and  of  accident  are  banished  from  the 
course  of  nature."  ^  To  this  an  opposite  school 
replies  that  the  theory  assumes  a  higher  stage  of 
mentality  than  savage  races  have  reached.  They 
are  unable  to  conceive  of  constant  relations 
between  cause  and  effect.  The  how  and  why 
of  things  is  a  late  conception  in  human  develop- 
ment. Wliat  appears  to  rule  the  life  of  man  at 
his  lowest,  and  to  persist  in  often  unsuspected 
form  throughout  his  history,  is  the  sense  of 
a  vague,  impersonal,  ever-acting,  universally- 
diffused  power  which,  borrowing  the  word  for 
it  common  to  the  whole  Pacific,  is  called  mana? 
To  quote  from  the  classical  work  on  the  subject, 
"  Mana  is  not  fixed  in  anything,  and  can  be 
conveyed  in  almost  anything.  It  works  to  affect 
everything  which  is  beyond  the  ordinary  power 
of  men,  outside  the  common  processes  of  nature, 
it  is  present  in  the  atmosphere  of  life,  attaches 

^  The  Golden  Bough^,  "The  Magic  Art,"  Vol.  I.  p.  220. 
2  Art.    "Mana,"   Hastings's   Ency.  Beligion  and   Ethics^ 
Vol.  VIII.  pp.  375-380. 


MAGIC   AND   RELIGION  3 

itself  to  persons  and  to  things,  and  is  manifested 
by  results  which  can  only  be  ascribed  to  its  opera- 
tion.^ .  .  .  Wizards,  doctors,  weather-mongers, 
prophets,  diviners,  dreamers,  all  alike,  every- 
where in  the  islands,  work  by  this  power."  ^ 
Mana  is  the  stuff  through  which  magic  works ; 
it  is  not  the  trick  itself,  but  the  power  whereby 
the  sorcerer  does  the  trick.  To  the  Omaha 
Indians,  wakonda  is  "  the  power  that  makes  or 
brings  to  pass,"  and  the  like  meaning  is  attached 
to  the  Iroquois  orenda  or  oki,  to  the  Algonkin 
manitou,  to  the  kutchi  of  the  Australian  natives, 
to  the  agud  of  the  Torres  Straits  Islanders,  to  the 
bu-nissi  of  the  Bantu  and  to  the  ri'ga  of  the 
Masai.  Equating  mana  with  what  the  Milesians 
called  physis  (phyo,  "to  bring  forth  "),  Mr.  Corn- 
ford  says  that  it  is  "  that  very  li\ang  stuff  out 
of  which  demons,  gods  and  souls  had  slowly 
gathered  shape."  ^  This  falls  into  line  with  the 
theory,  based  on  evidence  as  to  the  continuity 
of  mental  development,  that  Animism,  or  the 
belief  in  personal  spirits  everywhere,  in  the  non- 
living as  well  as  in  the  living,  is  a  secondary 
stage  in  the  growth  of  religion,  being  preceded 
by  Naturism,  or  belief  in  impersonal  powers 
As  an  example,  to  the  jungle  dwellers  of  Chota 

1  The  Melanesians,  p.  119,  by  the  Rev.  R.  H.  Codrington. 

-  lb.,  p.  192. 

3  From  Religion  to  Philosophy,  p.  123. 


4  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

Nagpur  their  "  sacred  groves  are  the  abode  of 
equally  indeterminate  things,  represented  by  no 
symbols  and  of  whose  form  and  function  no  one  can 
give  an  intelligible  account.  They  have  not  yet 
been  clothed  with  individual  attributes;  they 
linger  on  as  survivals  of  the  impersonal  stage 
of  religion."  ^  Cognate  examples  abound ;  here, 
passing  from  India  to  Africa,  it  suffices  to  quote 
one  given  by  Mr.  Hollis  in  his  book  on  The  Masai. 
He  says  that  in  their  word  en-gai  we  have  that 
which  expresses  "  the  primitive  and  undeveloped 
religious  sentiment  where  the  personality  of  the 
god  is  hardly  separated  from  striking  natui'al 
phenomena."  ^  On  the  same  plane  is  the  "  un- 
seen power  of  the  ancient  Roman  cults  .  .  . 
seated  in,  often  unnamed,  and  visible  only  in  the 
sense  of  being,  or  in  some  sense  symbolized  by, 
tree  or  stone  or  animal.^  In  his  Religion  of  Numa 
Mr.  Carter  says  that  "  it  required  centuries  to 
educate  the  Roman  into  the  conception  of  per- 
sonal, individual  gods."  *  "  The  idea  of  the 
supernatural,"  says  M.  Emile  Durkheim,  "  as 
we  understand  it,  dates  only  from  to-day."  ^ 
It  could  arise  only  after  belief  in  a  natural, 
unbroken  order  of  things   was  established,   and 

^  People  of  India,  p.  215,  by  Sir  H.  Risley, 

2  p.  xix. 

^  The  Roman  Festivals,  p.  837,  by  W.  Warde  Fowler. 

«  p.  70. 

^  Elementary  Forms  of  the  Religious  Life,  p.  26. 


MAGIC   AND   RELIGION  5 

is  not  to  be  confounded  with  that  feeling  of  the 
marvellous  begotten  by  the  surprising  or  the 
unusual  in  phenomena.  Ages  were  to  pass  before 
speculations  about  spiritual  beings  shaped  them- 
selves in  creeds  and  dogmas  whose  formulation 
has  brought  countless  evils  on  mankind.  As 
Montaigne  shrewdly  said,  "  Nothing  is  so  firmly 
believed  as  that  which  is  least  known,"  and  in 
the  degree  that  the  matter  in  dispute  is  incapable 
of  proof,  the  passions  of  men  in  defending  it 
have  begotten  the  foul  brood  of  hatred  and 
slaughter  ^  which  warranted  the  terrible  indict- 
ment of  Lucretius  :  "  Tantum  religio  iiotuit 
suadere  malorum ; "  ^  ("  so  great  the  evils  to  which 
religion  could  prompt  "). 

As  to  the  second  question,  one  school  contends 
that  magic  precedes,  and  is  antagonistic  to, 
religion ;  that  the  sorcerer  comes  before  the  priest 
in  the  order  of  thaumaturgists.  Armed  with 
mana ;  in  common  phrase,  with  his  "  bag  o' 
tricks,"  the  sorcerer  works  as  one  who  com- 
pels or  constrains  or  manipulates  persons  and 
powers,  both  seen  and  unseen,  to  attainment 
of  his  ends,  whether  these  be  to  help  or  to 
harm.     His   apparatus    is   gross   and    material : 

^  "  Nonsense  defended  by  cruelty,"  Gibbon,  Decline  and 
Fall,  ch.  Ixiv.  p.  4  (Biiry's  Edition,  1914). 

2  Bk.  I.  1.  101.  In  his  Lucretius,  Epicurean  and  Poet, 
p.  436,  Mr.  Masson  says  :  "  This  Hne  may  be  rendered  : 
'  There  is  nothing  so  dangerous  as  the  rehgious  conscience.'  " 


6  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

he  enchains  and  subdues  by  his  magic  arts  and 
devices. 

It  is  not  so  with  the  priest,  who  beheves  himself 
to  be  the  channel  of  communications  between 
gods  and  men,  and  whose  methods,  therefore, 
are  not  carnal,  but  spiritual.  His  functions 
come  into  play  only  as  man  attains  to  concrete 
conceptions  of  invisible  powers  (envisaging  these 
as  made  in  his  own  image),  so  that  more  direct 
appeal  to  them  is  possible.  But,  in  truth,  no 
hard  and  fast  lines  can  be  drawn  between  priest 
and  sorcerer.  These  sharp  divisions  are  to  be 
avoided ;  they  assume  a  consistency  of  sequence 
in  barbaric  beliefs  and  practices  which  disqualifies 
us  for  understanding  them.  Symmetrical  theories 
carry  their  own  condemnation. 

A  distinction,  which  has  a  certain  validity, 
has  been  drawn  between  religion  and  magic.  In 
primitive  groups,  the  individual  does  not  count; 
the  community  is  everything.  Hence,  among 
all  lower  races,  every  institution  is  social.  Even 
religion,  which  we  are  apt  to  think  of  only  in 
terms  of  sect,  is  collectivist  :  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  a  private  religion.  Dances  and  festivals, 
and  other  channels  of  relief  of  the  emotions  ruled 
the  communal  life ;  aught  else  that  we  associate 
with  the  terms  "  religion  "  and  "  worship  "  was 
a  much  later  development. 

Magic,   on  the   other  hand,  is  anti -social  and 


MAGIC  AND  RELIGION  7 

disruptive.  The  sorcerer  acts  alone;  he  works 
for  his  own  ends.  Now  and  again  he  serves  the 
common  weal,  as  when,  by  his  spells,  he  inspires 
the  tribe  against  the  foe,  or  makes  believe  to 
control  the  wind  and  weather.  But,  practically, 
his  arts  are  directed  against  the  individual.  To 
quote  M.  Durkheim,  "  Between  the  magician 
and  the  individuals  who  consult  him  there  are 
no  lasting  bonds  which  make  them  members 
of  the  same  moral  community  comparable  to 
that  formed  by  the  believers  in  the  same  god 
or  the  observers  of  the  same  cult ;  the  magician 
has  a  clientele  and  not  a  Church.  There  is  no 
Church  of  magic."  ^  True ;  but  there  are  no 
Chm'ches  without  it.  The  priest,  in  contrast 
with  the  sorcerer,  assumes  direct  relations  with 
invisible  and  supernatural  powers,  but  for  the 
sustaining  of  these,  as  for  his  influence  with  those 
powers,  he  relies  on  magic.  Beliefs  vanish  before 
the  advance  of  knowledge ;  the  heterodoxy  of 
to-day  becomes  the  orthodoxy  of  to-morrow. 
But  ritual  abides  as  a  vehicle  of  magic,  and  herein 
the  medicine-man  and  the  sacerdotalist  meet 
together.  "  Magic,  sacrament  and  sacrifice  are 
fundamentally  all  one."  ^  The  continuity  between 
these  is  recognized  in  a  recent  book  by  a  "  priest 
of  the  Catholic  Church  "  (that  is,  of  its  English 
branch,  the  orders  of  which  are  invalid  at  Rome). 
^  p.  44.  2  Themis.,  p.  138,  Jane  E.  Harrison. 


8  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

In  the  initiation  ceremonies  accompanying  the 
admission  of  youths  to  membership  of  the  tribe 
on  attaining  puberty,  he  sees  anticipation  of 
the  rite  of  confirmation  and  of  the  preparation 
for  the  "  Communion  of  the  Saints."  In  the 
universal  barbaric  behef  that  the  eater  absorbs 
the  quaUties  and  virtues  of  the  thing  eaten,  he 
admits  a  fundamental  connection  with  the  most 
sacred  and  magical  of  Christian  rites,  "  the  sacra- 
mental element  becoming  more  and  more  pro- 
nounced, till  at  last  in  the  Eucharist  wherein 
man  dwells  in  Christ  and  Christ  in  man  it  finds 
its  consummation."  In  the  purification  and 
lustration  customs  attending  women  at  childbirth 
and  the  newly  born,  especially  in  the  Isis  rite 
of  baptism  with  water,  he  finds  preparation  "  for 
the  proclamation  of  the  one  baptism  for  the 
remission  of  sins."  ^ 

The  Christian  magician,  he  contends,  is  success- 
ful as  one  of  "  a  priesthood  possible  only  where 
a  definite  relationship  exists  between  the  deity 
and  the  community,  since  the  office  of  the  priest 
is  to  propitiate  the  gods  or  act  as  their  mouthpiece. 
By  virtue  of  his  initial  ordination,  he  becomes 
invested  with  Divine  authority  .  . .  and  is  therefore 
regarded  as  a  sacred  person  "  !  All  the  lower 
religions,  in  the  view  of  this  writer,  have  been 
*'  schoolmasters  to  bring  us  to  Christ  " ;    for  him 

i  Primitive  Ritual  and  Belief,  p.  13,  Rev.  E.  O.  James. 


MAGIC   AND   RELIGION  9 

their  value  lies  only  in  the  degree  that  they  are 
anticipatory  of  the  Christian  religion,  with  its 
monopoly  of  a  Divine  process  and  purpose  which 
is  for  the  advantage  of  a  handful  of  mankind, 
and  of  which  the  majority  have  never  heard. 
Mr.  James,  who  has  undergone  "  a  full  anthropo- 
logical training  "  under  Dr.  Marett  at  Oxford ; 
the  course  including  a  study  of  the  lower  religions, 
coolly  ignores  the  existence  of  the  great  religions 
which  claim  the  adherence  of  a  thousand  millions, 
whereas  Christianity,  riven  into  a  myriad 
"  jarring  sects,"  can,  on  the  most  elastic  reckoning, 
claim  barely  half  the  number.  This,  surely,  is  to 
import  into  the  Christian  religion  an  anti-social, 
even  anti-human,  element,  to  make  disruptive 
what  is  said  originally  to  mean  "  binding " 
(religare,  "  to  bind  ").  In  the  degree  that  it  has 
become  individualistic  it  has  lost  touch  with  a 
common  humanity.^  Self-regardfulness  impels 
the  cry,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  " 

*  On  the  origin  of  anxiety  as  to  the  fate  of  the  individual 
soul,  see  J.  B.  Carter's  Religious  Life  of  Ancient  Rome, 
pp.  72,  216. 


CHAPTER  II 

MANA   IN   TANGIBLE   THINGS 

The  branch  of  Magic  which  now  comes  under 
survey  plays  an  important  part  in  modern  behef 
and  custom.  To  bring  home  the  fact  of  this 
survival  may  cause  surprise  to  some,  akin  to 
that  felt  by  M.  Jourdain  when  he  learned  that  he 
had  been  talking  prose  all  his  life  without  knowing 
it.  Magic,  for  the  present  purpose,  is  defined 
as  the  mana  by  which  the  sorcerer  pretends  to 
(in  some  cases  honestly  believes  that  he  can) 
obtain  control  over  persons  and  their  belongings, 
to  their  help  or  harm,  and  also  control  over 
invisible  beings  and  the  occult  powers  of  nature. 

Magic  works  in  two  ways;  as  black  or  male- 
ficent, and  as  white  or  beneficent.  The  black 
predominates,  because  of  the  larger  field  of 
mentality  wherein  it  works.  No  matter  how 
civilized  he  may  be,  man  has  never  shaken  off  the 
fear  aroused  by  the  unknown  or  the  unusual 
which  he  inherits  from  his  proto-human  ancestry. 
As  creatures  of  emotion,  we  are  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  years  old ;  as  reasoning  beings, 
we  are  but  of  yesterday.     Despite  assertions  to 

10 


MANA  IN  TANGIBLE  THINGS         11 

the  contrary,  and  despite  what  is  proffered  in 
support  of  them,  the  mass  of  evidence  in  favour 
of  the  saying  of  Statins,^  primus  in  orbe  deos  fecit 
timor,  is  overwhehning.  The  emotion  of  fear, 
undiscipUned  by  knowledge,  has  begotten  a 
crowd  of  dreaded  beings,  from  ghosts  to  gods. 
None  of  them  are  reasoned  products  of  the  mind. 
"  Fear  in  sooth  takes  such  a  hold  of  all  mortals, 
because  they  see  many  operations  go  on  in  earth 
and  heaven,  the  causes  of  which  they  can  in  no 
way  understand."  ^ 

Both  black  and  white  magic  operate  through 
tangible  and  intangible  things.  The  condition 
of  nervous  instability,  the  confusion  between 
persons  and  things  and  between  objective  and 
subjective,  in  other  words,  between  what  is 
external  to  the  mind  and  what  is  in  the  mind 
itself,  all  foster  belief  in  the  savage  that  the 
sorcerer  can  work  evil  upon  him  by  obtaining 
drops  of  his  blood,  clippings  of  his  hair  or  nails ; 
refuse  of  his  food;  his  saliva,  sweat,  excreta; 
his  portrait;  any  piece  of  his  clothing  that  has 
his  smell  in  it,  even  the  earth  taken  from  a  man's 
footprint  because  it  has  come  into  contact  with 
his  body.  All  alike  become  vehicles  of  mana. 
Hence,  before  dealing  with  the  main  subject  of 
this  book,  the  warrant  for  filling  a  few  pages  with 

1  Thehais,  Bk.  III.  661. 

^  De  Rerum  Natiira,  Bk.  I.  151-154. 


12  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

examples  of  the  play  of  mana  in  tangible  things. 
They  are  chosen  from  a  vast  number,  and  the 
reader  is  asked  to  accept  them  on  the  principle  of 
the  old  motto,  ex  uno  disce  omnes — ^from  one 
example  judge  of  the  rest.  "  Brevity,"  says 
Lucian  in  his  Way  to  Write  History,  "is  always 
desirable,  and  especially  where  matter  is 
abundant." 

{a)  Mana  in  Blood. 

To  us  blood  is  only  the  vehicle  of  life  :  to  the 
savage  it  is  the  life.  The  belief  is  primitive  and 
persistent.  Among  the  natives  of  New  Britain 
the  smallest  quantity  of  blood  faUing  on  the 
ground  is  at  once  gathered  up  and  destroyed  :  ^ 
the  Igalwa  of  West  Africa  stamp  out  blood  from 
a  cut  in  the  finger  or  from  a  fit  of  nose-bleeding  :  ^ 
in  Bengal  blood  from  a  wound  is  covered  up, 
spat  upon,  and  thrown  away  to  prevent  any 
mischief  being  done  to  the  wound.  Basuto 
sorcerers  secure  drops  of  blood  from  their  intended 
victim  whereby  to  work  black  magic  on  him.^  A 
parallel  to  this  is  supplied  by  the  ancient  Peruvian 
sorcerers,  who  sought  to  destroy  their  victim 
through  blood  taken  from  him,  the  knowledge 
of  loss  of  which  would  cause  him  to  die  of  sheer 
funk.*    The    equation    of    blood    with    life    has 

1  Melanesians  and  Polynesians,  p.  253,  Rev.  G.  Brown. 

2  Travels  in  W.  Africa,  p.  447,  Mary  Kingsley. 

3  Legend  of  Perseus,  Vol.  II.  p.  73,  E.  S.  Hartland,  LL.D. 
*  Principles  of  Sociology,  p.  264,  Herbert  Spencer. 


MANA   IN  TANGIBLE   THINGS         13 

example  in  the  Iliad  where  the  soul  of  Hyperenor 
is  described  as  having  "  fled  hastily  through  the 
stricken  wound  " ;  ^  the  philosopher  Empedocles 
taught  that  "  the  blood  round  the  heart  is  the 
thought  of  man  " ;  ^  the  Arabs  believe  that  the 
life  of  a  slain  man  "  flows  on  the  spear  point,^  and 
their  kindred  Semites  believed  that  "the  blood 
is  the  soul,"  not  merely  "  Ufe,"  as  translated 
in  Deut.  xii.  23. 

(b)  Mana  in  Hair,  Teeth,  etc. 

In  Southern  India  human  hair,  nail-cuttings 
and  powdered  earth  are  mixed  together,  waved 
three  times  before  a  sick  child  as  a  charm  against 
the  evil  eye,  and  then  burnt.  Possessed  of  a 
lock  of  his  hair,  parings  of  his  nails,  and  a  few 
shreds  of  his  clothing,  the  Singhalese  sorcerer 
works  these  into  an  image  of  his  victim,  and  thrusts 
nails  into  it  where  the  joints  would  be.  That, 
especially  if  the  victim  knows  what  has  been 
done,  settles  his  fate.  His  joints  stiffen,  his 
body  is  scorched  with  fever;  the  spell  does  its 
fatal  work.*  Bishop  Callaway  says  that  the 
Amazulu  sorcerers  are  supposed  to  destroy  their 
victims  by  taking  some  portion  of  their  bodies, 
or  something  that  they  have  worn,  adding  to  these 

1  Bk.  XIV.  518. 

-  Fragments,  105.    Early  Cheek  Philosophy,  p.  254,  Prof. 
J.  Burnet. 

3  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  40,  W.  Robertson  Smith 
*  Golden  Bough^,  "The  Magic  Art,"  Vol.  I.  p.  65. 


14  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

certain  "  medicine,"  which  mixture  they  secretly 
bury,  so  that  as  it  dries  up  the  life  of  the  victim 
may  wither  away.^ 

The  Maori  sorcerer  gets  a  lock  of  his  victim's 
hair,  parings  of  his  nails,  fragments  of  his  gar- 
ment, all  which  he  buries,  chanting  over  them 
spells  and  curses.  As  the  things  decay,  so  decays 
the  person  to  whom  they  belonged  .^  When  the 
mae  snake  carried  away  a  fragment  of  food  into 
the  place  sacred  to  a  spirit,  the  man  who  had 
eaten  of  the  food  sickened  as  the  fragment 
decayed  .3  The  natives  of  New  Britain  believe 
that  the  sorcerer  can  injure  a  man  by  securing 
something  that  he  has  touched  with  his  mouth, 
hence  they  carefully  destroy  yam  peehngs,  banana 
skins,  and  suchlike  refuse.*  Among  some  North 
American  tribes  even  the  water  in  which  their 
soiled  clothes  have  been  washed  is  thrown  away, 
so  that  black  magic  may  not  be  wrought  by  it.^ 
In  the  New  Hebrides  hair  and  nail  cuttings  are 
hidden,  and  any  refuse  of  food  is  given  to  the  pigs. 
The  peasants  of  Galway  say  that  it  is  unlucky 
to  give  or  receive  hair-cuttings,  and  if  these  are 
stolen  ill  will  befall  the  thief; «  the  Leitrim  rustics 
keep  their  hair-clippings    because  they  may  be 

1  Principles  of  Sociology,  p.  264,  Herbert  Spencer. 

2  Te  Ika  a  Maui,  p.  203,  R.  Taylor. 

3  Codrington,  p.  203.  *  Brown,  p.  233. 
^  Primitive  Superstitions,  p.  142,  R.  M.  Dorman. 
«  Folk-lore,  Vol.  XIX.  p.  319. 


MANA  IN   TANGIBLE  THINGS        15 

wanted  on  the  Day  of  Judgement  to  turn  the  scale 
against  the  weight  of  their  sins.^  Widespread 
is  the  custom  among  "  yokels,"  and  some  of  their 
"  betters,"  of  preserving  teeth  so  that  the  owner 
may  not  lack  them  at  the  resurrection,  or  of 
throwing  them  away  lest  magic  be  worked  through 
them.  These  examples,  types  of  which  could  be 
drawn  from  world-wide  sources,  lie  on  the  border- 
land of  our  survey,  but  one  may  be  cited.  In 
Yorkshire  when  a  child's  tooth  comes  out  it 
must  be  dropped  in  the  fire  and  the  following 
rhyme  repeated  :  otherwise  the  child  will  have 
to  hunt  for  the  tooth  after  death — 

"  Fire,  fire,  tak'  a  beean, 
An'  send  our  Johnny  a  good  teeath  ageean."  ^ 

(According  to  the  communications  purporting  to 
have  come  from  Raymond  Lodge  in  the  spirit 
world,  these  precautions  are  unnecessary.  We 
are  told  that  celestial  dentists  supply  new  teeth, 
that  artificial  limbs  are  also  provided,  and  that 
"  when  anybody's  blown  to  pieces,  it  takes  some 
time  for  the  spirit-body  to  complete  itself,  to 
gather  itself  all  in.")  ^ 

Folk  custom  is  rich  in  parallels  between  bar- 
baric and  semicivilized  peoples,  among  these 
being  the   superstitions   attached   to  lucky   and 

1  Folk-lore,  Vol.  VII.  p.  182. 

2  Rustic  Speech  and  Folk-lore,  p.  220,  E.  M.  Wright. 

^  Raymond :   or  Life  and  Death,  p.  195,  Sir  Oliver  Lodge. 


16  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

unlucky  days  for  hair-cutting  and  nail-paring. 
The  modern  Jews  in  Jerusalem  cut  their  nails 
early  in  the  week  so  that  they  may  not  start 
growing  on  the  Sabbath ;  ^  in  the  Hebrides  and 
Northumberland  Friday  is  an  unlucky  day  for 
so  doing,  while,  per  contra,  among  the  later 
Romans  that  day  was  chosen  as  lucky  (dies 
faustus).  The  occult  power  believed  to  dwell 
in  the  hair  is  perhaps  explained  by  its  connection 
with  the  head,  to  which  a  special  sanctity  has  been 
attached  as  the  dwelling-place  of  spirit.  Sir 
James  Frazer  quotes  a  striking  example  of  this 
from  a  traveller  in  West  Africa.  "  Among  the 
Hos  of  Togoland  there  are  priests  on  whose  heads 
no  razor  has  come  throughout  their  life.  The 
god  who  dwells  in  the  man  forbids  the  shearing 
of  his  hair  under  threat  of  death.  If  the  hair 
grows  too  long,  the  owner  must  pray  to  his  god 
to  let  him  at  least  clip  the  ends  of  it.  For  the 
hair  is  conceived  as  the  seat  and  abode  of  his 
god  :  were  it  cut  off,  the  god  would  lose  his 
dwelling."  ^  When  the  barber,  at  the  command 
of  the  wily  Delilah,  shaved  off  the  seven  locks 
of  Samson's  head,  "  his  strength  went  from,  him."  ^ 
In  the  Zend  Avesta,  Ahura  Mazda  is  asked  : 
"  Which  is  the  most  deadly  deed  whereby  a  man 

1  Popular  Antiquities,  Vol.  III.  p.  177,  Brand  (Hazlitt's 
Edition). 

2  Folk-lore  in  the  Old  Testament,  Vol.  III.  p.  189. 
^  Judges  xvi.  19. 


MANA  IN  TANGIBLE  THINGS        17 

increases  most  the  baleful  strength  of  the  Dsevas  ?  " 
whereupon  the  god  answered,  "  It  is  when  a  man 
here  below,  combing  his  hair  or  shaving  it  off, 
or  paring  off  his  nails,  drops  them  into  a  hole  or 
crack."  ^ 

In  a  recent  drivelling  book,  entitled  The  Ancient 
Road  or  the  Development  of  the  Soul,  the  hair  is 
said  to  be  "  full  of  mystic  power  and  [pity  the 
bald  !]  a  thick  crop  of  it  is  an  invariable  accom- 
paniment of  genius.  The  paucity  of  originality 
and  of  inspirational  genius  at  the  present  day 
is  typified  in  the  short-cropped  heads  and  the 
prevalence  of  baldness  among  men."  Hair  as 
an  agent  of  white  magic  has  an  example  in  an 
experience  narrated  by  Paul  du  Chaillu.  After 
his  hair  (he  became  quite  bald  in  later  years)  had 
been  shorn,  a  scuffling  and  fighting  crowd  gathered 
round  him  to  scramble  for  the  cuttings,  even 
the  old  King  Olenda  mixing  in  the  tumult.  "  I 
called  him  and  asked  what  was  the  use  of  the 
hair.  He  answered,  '  O  Spirit,  these  hairs 
are  very  precious  :  we  shall  make  mondas 
(fetishes)  of  them  and  they  will  bring  other  white 
men  and  good  luck  and  riches.'  "  ^ 

(c)  Mana  in  Saliva. 

In  Cherokee  belief,  the  possession  of  a  man's 

1  Fargard,  Vol.  XVII.  Quoted  in  Scatalogic  Rites  of 
all  Nations,  p.  346,  J.  G.  Bourke.  See  also  HartlancI, 
L.P.,  Vol.  II.  p.  135. 

^  Adventures  in  Equatorial  Africa,  p.  427. 


18  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

saliva  gives  the  shaman  power  over  the  hfe  of 
the  man  himself.  The  higher  his  rank,  the  more 
sacred,  the  more  mana-eharged,  is  his  saliva. 
The  South  Sea  Island  chiefs  had  servants  follow- 
ing them  with  spittoons  so  that  the  contents 
might  be  buried  in  some  hidden  place.  In  Hawaii 
the  care  of  the  Royal  saliva  was  entrusted  to  a 
chief  of  the  first  rank,  who  held  the  distinguished 
office  of  spittoon-bearer  to  the  king  and  to  whom 
fell  the  duty  of  burying  the  contents  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  medicine-man.  The  chief  officer 
of  the  "  King  of  Congo  receives  the  royal  saliva 
in  a  rag  which  he  doubles  up  and  kisses."  The 
service  takes  a  less  agreeable  form  at  the  "  court  " 
of  the  King  of  Engoge.  The  monarch  spits  into 
the  hand  of  his  servant,  who  straightway  rubs 
it  on  his  head.  "There  are  certaine  people," 
says  Montaigne,  "  that  turne  their  backs  towards 
those  they  salute ;  there  are  others  who  when 
the  King  spitteth,  the  most  favoured  ladie  in 
his  court  stretcheth  forth  her  hand,  and  in  another 
countrey  where  the  noblest  about  him  stoope 
to  the  ground  to  gather  his  ordure  in  some  fine 
linnen  cloth."  ^ 

The  natives  of  New  Britain  are  careful  not  to 

expectorate   except   by   blowing  the  spittle   out 

in   sea   spray,   which   they   believe   destroys   its 

magic  power.2     If  a  Wotjobaluk  sorcerer  cannot 

1  Book  I.  ch.  xxii.  ^  Brown,  p.  233. 


MANA   IN   TANGIBLE   THINGS         19 

get  the  hair  of  his  foe,  a  shred  of  his  rug,  or  some- 
thing else  that  belongs  to  the  man,  he  will  watch 
till  he  sees  him  spit,  when  he  will  carefully  pick 
up  the  spittle  with  a  stick  and  use  it  to  destroy 
the  careless  spitter.^    Aristotle,  Pliny  and  other 
classic  writers  believed  in  the  deadly  power  of 
human  saliva.     Some  of  them  hit  on  the  fact 
that  it  has  qualities  akin  to  the  virus  of  snakes, 
which  is  a  highly  specialized  saliva.     They  also 
believed  that  these   reptiles  and  other  animals 
could  be  killed  by  being  spat  upon,  and  that  if 
one  man  bit  another,  it  was  fatal  to  the  bitten. 
On  the  other  hand,  Pliny  quotes  Varro  as  authority'' 
that  some  people  in  Asia  Minor,  called  the  Ophi- 
ogenes,   cure   snake-poisoning   by  their    spittle.^ 
Superstitions    bristle    with    contradictions,    and 
saliva  appears  to   play  a  larger   part   in  white 
magic  than  in  black.     Belief  in  the  potency  of 
this  normally  harmless  secretion  has  given  rise 
to  its  use  as  a  prophylactic  (notably  in  the  form 
of  fasting  spittle),  a  benediction,  a  luck-bringer, 
a   love-charm,    a   lustration   against   fascination 
especially  by  the  evil  eye,^  and  as  a  symbol  of 
friendship  corresponding  to  the  blood  covenant. 
On  the  custom  of  spitting  on  the  person  whom  one 

^  Golden  Bought  "Taboo,"  p.  288. 

^  Harvard  Studies,  Vol.  VIII.  "  The  Saliva  Superstition 
in  Classical  Literature,"  F.  W.  Nicolson. 

^  See  Castle  St.  Angela  and  the  Evil  Eye,  pp.  208  seq., 
W.  W.  Story. 


20  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

desires   to   honour,   Consul  Petherick  records   a 
typical  example.     "  The  chief  grasped  my  hand 
and  turning  up  the  palm  spat  upon  it,  then  looking 
into  my  face  did  the  same.     Staggered  at  the 
man's  audacity,  my  first  impulse  was  to  knock 
him  down,   but  his  features  expressed  kindness 
only.     So  I  returned  the  compliment  with  interest. 
His  delight  was  excessive  and  he  told  his  com- 
panion that  I  must  be  a  great  chief.^     Among 
the  Masai  it  is  bad  form  to  kiss  a  lady,  and  it  is 
comme  il  faut  to  spit  on  her.     A  propos  of  this 
Joseph    Thomson,  in    his  Through   Masai  Land, 
tells  an  amusing  story.     His  renown  as  a  medicine- 
man had  spread,  and  one  day  an  old  chief  brought 
his  wife  to  him  to  seek  his  help,  as  they  wanted 
a  boy  who  should  be  his  counterpart  in  colour 
and  appearance.     He  told  them  that  the  matter 
was  beyond  his  power,  being  entirely  in  the  hands 
of  the  god  N'gai,  to  whom  they  must  pray.     As 
this  did  not  content  them,  to  their  delight,  he 
spat    upon   them,    but   they   hinted   that    other 
"  medicine "    was    necessary.     He    then    brewed 
some  Eno's  fruit  salt  for  them,  spat  on  them  "  all 
over,"  and  "  showed  them  the  door,"  after  bestow- 
ing on  the  woman  some  beads  "  in  trust  for  the 
prospective  white  baby."  ^ 

^  Egypt :   the  Soudan  and  Central  Africa,  p.  36. 
2  p.  165.      On  conception  by  saliva  and  on  talking  saliva, 
see  Hartland,  L.P.,  Vols.  I.  p.  130,  and  II.  pp.  60-62. 


MANA   IN  TANGIBLE   THINGS         21 

Concerning  this  belief  in  the  magical  qualities 
of  saHva,  Mr.  Doughty  says,  "  A  young  mother, 
a  slender  girl,  brought  her  wretched  babe  and 
bade  me  spit  on  the  child's  sore  eyes  :  this  ancient 
Semitic  opinion  and  custom  I  have  afterwards 
found  wherever  I  came  in  Arabia.  Meleyr  nomads 
in  El-Kasum  have  brought  me  some  of  their  bread 
and  salt  that  I  should  spit  in  it  for  their  sick 
friends."  The  belief  has  a  long  history.^ 
According  to  Pliny,  saliva  was  a  cure  for  leprosy, 
cancer  (carcinoma)  and  inflammation  of  the  eyes.^ 
Two  stories  of  it  as  curing  total  blindness  are 
told  by  Tacitus  and  by  the  evangelists  Mark  and 
John. 

Tacitus  relates  that  "  a  certaine  mean  com- 
moner Starke  blind,"  acting  on  the  advice  of  the 
god  Serapis,  implored  Vespasian  to  cure  him  by 
moistening  his  cheeks  and  eyeballs  with  his 
spittle.  After  consulting  his  physicians,  the 
Emperor  gi'anted  the  man's  prayer  and  "  the 
light  of  the  day  again  shone  on  the  blind."  ^ 

In  the  Gospel  of  Mark,  Jesus,  besought  by  the 
blind  man  to  touch  him,  spat  on  his  eyes,  put 
his  hands  upon  them  and  "  the  man  was  restored." 

*  Wanderings  in  Arabia,  Vol.  I.  p.  194  (1908  Edition). 

2  Nat.  Hist,  XXVIII.  37. 

^  Hist.,  Bk.  IV.  81.  In  a  panegyric  on  the  Babylonian 
god  Marduk  there  occurs  the  strange  phrase  :  "  The  spittle 
of  life  is  thine."  In  this  there  is  probable  allusion  to  magic 
virtue  in  saliva.     Greece  and  Babylon,  p.  176,  L.  R.  Farnell, 


22  MAGIC  IN   NAMES 

In  the  longer  version  given  by  St.  John,  Jesus 
"  spat  on  the  ground,  made  clay  of  the  spittle 
and  anointed  the  eyes  of  the  bUnd  man  with  the 
clay."  He  bade  him  wash  in  the  pool  of  Siloam  : 
the  man  went  his  way  thither  and  "  came  seeing." 
By  the  same  saliva-magic  Jesus  cured  the  deaf 
and  dumb  man,  "  looking  up  to  heaven  he  sighed 
and  saith  unto  him,  Ephphatha,  that  is,  '  be 
opened.'  And  straightway  his  ears  were  opened 
and  the  string  of  his  tongue  was  loosed  and  he 
spake  plain."  ^ 

In  the  rite  of  baptism  in  the  Roman  CathoHc 
Church  the  priest,  blending  pagan  rite  with 
Christian  tradition,  touches  the  child's  ears  and 
nostrils  with  spittle  and  recites  an  exorcism  based 
on  the  foregoing  story.  After  the  command, 
"  Ephphatha,  quod  est  adaperitor,"  he  adds, 
"  Tu  autem  effugare,  diabole,  adpropinquabit 
enim  judicium  Dei."  (Be  thou  put  to  flight, 
O  devil,  for  the  judgment  of  God  is  at  hand.) 
"  This  Custom  of  nurses  lustrating  the  children 
by  spittle  was  one  of  the  Ceremonies  used  on  the 
Dies  Nominalis,  the  Day  the  Child  was  named, 
so  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  Papists 
deriving  this  Custom  from  the  Heathen  Nurses 
and  Grandmothers.    They  have,  indeed,  christened 

1  Mark  vii.  33-35,  viii.  25;  John  ix.  6.  Both  Tacitus 
and  Suetonius  (Vespasian,  VII.)  tell  the  further  story  of 
the  healing  of  a  man  "  with  a  feeble  a,nd  lame  leg  "  by 
*'t'he  print  of  a,  C?esar's  foot/' 


MANA   IN   TANGIBLE   THINGS         23 

it,  as  it  were,  by  singing-in  some  scriptui-al  expres- 
sions, but  then  they  have  carried  it  to  a  more 
filthy  extravagance  by  daubing  it  on  the  Nostrils 
of  Adults  as  well  as  of  Children."  ^ 

Vincenzo  Dorsa,  an  Albanian,  in  one  of  his 
pamphlets  on  the  survival  of  Greco-Roman 
traditions  in  Albania,  speaks  of  a  charm-formula, 
Otto  Nove  (Eight-nine).  It  is  considered  proper 
to  spit  thrice  on  a  suckling  infant  and  then  call 
out  three  times  "  Otto  Nove."  This  brings  luck 
and  the  practice,  he  thinks,  is  an  echo  of  the 
number-system  of  Pythagoras.^ 

The  use  of  spittle  as  a  prohibitive  charm  has 
both  classical  and  modern  example.  In  the 
sixth  Idyll  of  Theocritus,  Damoetas  says,  "  Then, 
all  to  shun  the  evil  eye,  did  I  spit  thrice  in  my 
breast,  for  this  spell  was  taught  me  by  the  crone 
Cottytaris."  In  the  twentieth  idyll  Eunica, 
spurning  the  herdsman,  "  thrice  spat  in  the  breast 
of  her  gown,"  and  the  same  motive  prompts 
the  Italian  of  to-day  to  the  custom. 

{d)  Mana  in  Portrait. 

The  reluctance  of  savages  to  have  their  por- 
traits taken  is  explicable  when  viewed  in  relation 
to  the  group  of  confused  ideas  between  persons 
and  their  belongings.  Wlien  a  man  sees  his 
''  counterfeit  presentment,"  he  thinks  that  some 

1  Brand,  Vol.  III.  p.  228. 

3  Old  Calabria,  p.  310.  Norman  Douglas, 


24  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

part  of  his  vulnerable  self  is  put  at  the  mercy 
of  the  wonder-worker.  Captain  Whiffen,  in  his 
valuable  N.W.  Amazons,  says,  "  My  camera  was 
naturally  endowed  by  Indian  imagination  with 
magical  properties,  the  most  general  idea  among 
the  Boro  being  that  it  was  an  infernal  machine, 
designed  to  steal  the  souls  of  those  who  were 
exposed  to  its  baleful  eye.  In  like  manner  my 
eyeglass  was  supposed  to  give  me  power  to  see 
what  was  in  their  hearts.  When  I  first  attempted 
to  take  photographs,  the  natives  were  considerably 
agitated  by  my  use  of  a  black  cloth  to  envelop 
the  evil  thing,  and  when  my  own  head  went  under 
it  they  had  but  one  opinion — it  also  was  some 
strange  magic  working  that  would  enable  me  to 
read  their  minds  and  steal  their  souls  away,  or, 
rather,  become  master  of  their  souls.  This  was 
undoubtedly  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that  I  was 
able  to  reproduce  the  photograph.  The  Indian 
was  brought  face  to  face  with  his  native  soul, 
represented  by  the  miniature  of  himself  on  the 
photographic  plate.  One  glance,  and  one  only, 
could  he  be  induced  to  give.  The  Witoto  women 
believed  that  I  was  working  more  material  magic, 
and  feared,  should  they  suffer  exposure  to  the 
camera,  that  they  would  bear  resultant  offspring 
to  whom  the  camera — or  the  photograph — would 
stand  in  paternal  relation."  ^ 

1  p.  233. 


MANA   IN   TANGIBLE   THINGS        25 

When  among  the  Wa-teita  of  Masai  Land, 
Joseph  Thomson  tried  to  obtain  some  photo- 
graphs of  the  people.  "  I  did  my  best,"  he  says, 
"to  win  their  confidence.  Putting  on  my  most 
engaging  manner  I  exhibited  tempting  strings 
of  beads  as  bribes.  In  vain,  however,  did  I 
appeal  to  their  love  of  gaudy  ornaments.  With 
soothing  words,  aided  by  sundry  pinchings  and 
chuckings  under  the  chin,  I  might  get  the  length 
of  making  them  stand  up,  but  the  moment  that 
the  attempt  to  focus  them  took  place,  they  fled 
in  terror  to  the  shelter  of  the  woods.  To  show 
them  photos  and  try  to  explain  what  I  wanted, 
only  made  them  worse.  They  imagined  I  was  a 
magician  trying  to  take  possession  of  their  souls 
which,  once  accomplished,  they  would  be  entirely 
at  my  mercy.  They  would  not  in  the  end  even 
look  at  a  photo,  and  the  men  began  to  drive  the 
women  away."  ^  The  famous  explorer,  Catlin, 
tells  how  the  Yukons  quarrelled  with,  and 
threatened,  him  because  he  had  made  buffaloes 
scarce  by  putting  so  many  pictures  of  them  in 
his  book.2  Wlien  an  explorer  in  Yukon  territory 
was  focussing  his  camera,  the  headman  of  the 
village  was  allowed  to  peep  under  the  box.  He 
rushed  away,  shouting  to  the  people,  "  He  has 
all  of  your  shades  in  the  box,"  and  a  helter-skelter 

^  Through  Masai  Land,  p.  47. 

2  Primitive  Superstitions,  p.  140,  R,  M.  Dorman, 


26  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

ensued.^  But  we  need  not  travel  abroad  for 
examples  of  the  dread  which  portrait -taking 
begets.  From  Scotland  to  Somerset  there  are 
gathered  stories  about  the  ill-health  or  ill-luck 
which  followed  the  camera  :  "  Volks,"  said  the 
old  wife  of  a  Somersetshire  gardener,  "  never 
didna  live  long  arter  they  be  a-tookt  off." 
Francis  Hindes  Groome  relates  how  the  aunt 
of  a  gipsy  girl  refused  to  have  her  "  draw'd  out." 
When  he  asked  where  the  harm  could  be,  she 
replied,  "  I  know  there's  a  fiz  (charm)  in  it.  There 
was  my  youngest  that  the  gorja  draw'd  out  on 
Newmarket  Heath.  She  never  held  her  head 
up  after,  but  wasted  away  and  died  and  she's 
buried  in  March  churchyard."  ^ 

1  G.B.3,  "  Taboo,"  p.  96.  ^  /^^  Qiygy  Tents,  p.  337. 


CHAPTER  III 

MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS 

(a)  Mana  in  Shadows. 

The  savage  can  know  notliing  of  the  action 
of  the  laws  of  the  interference  of  Hght  and  somid. 
The  echoes  of  voices;  the  reflection  which 
water  casts;  and  the  shadows  which  follow  or 
precede  him,  lengthening  or  shortening  his  figure 
and  mimicking  his  actions,  all  add  to  the  causes 
of  the  confusion  in  the  mind  of  the  savage  (and 
in  that  of  many  so-called  civilized)  between  the 
objective  and  the  subjective.  Thus  it  is  that 
magic  also  works  upon  him  through  intangible 
phenomena,  as  shadows,  reflections,  echoes  and 
last,  but  not  least,  through  Names,  confirming 
his  belief  in  a  mysterious  double. 

Hence,  the  barbaric  conception  of  a  shadow- 
soul.  Its  intangibility  feeds  his  awe  and  wonder; 
its  actions  add  to  his  bewilderment,  and  make 
it  a  part  of  himself.  Only  when  the  light  is 
intercepted  or  withdrawn  does  this  shadow-soul 
cease  to  accompany  him,  and  since  both  non- 
living and  living  things  cast  shadows  of  them- 
selves, he  credits  this  "  double  "  as  appertaining 

to  everything, 

S7 


28  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

The  Choctaws  believed  that  each  man  has  an 
outside  shadow,  shilombish,  and  an  inside  shadow, 
shilup,  both  of  which  would  survive  him.  New 
England  tribes  call  the  soul  shemung,  i.e.  shadow; 
in  the  Eskimo,  Quiche  and  Costa  Rica  languages 
the  words  for  soul  and  shadow  are  the  same, 
while  community  of  idea  in  civilized  speech  has 
evidence  in  the  skia  of  the  Greeks,  the  manes 
and  umhra  of  the  Romans  and  in  the  shade  of 
our  own  tongue. 

The  Algonkin  Indians  are  not  alone  in  account- 
ing for  a  man's  illness  by  his  shadow  being 
detached  from  his  body.  Stories  of  shadowless 
men  are  current  in  folklore,  and  it  is  on  these 
that  von  Chamisso  based  his  quaint  fiction 
called  Peter  Schlemihl.  "If  it  be  desired  to 
cause  physical  injury  or  death  to  an  enemy, 
the  simplest  and  surest  method  is  to  make  an 
image  of  him  in  some  malleable  material — wax, 
lead,  or  clay — and,  if  opportunity  offers,  to  knead 
into  it,  or  attach  to  it,  some  trifle  from  the 
enemy's  person.  Three  hairs  from  his  head  are 
a  highly  valuable  acquisition,  but  parings  of 
his  nails  or  a  few  shreds  of  his  clothing  will 
serve  :  or,  again,  the  image  may  be  put  in  some 
place  where  his  shadow  will  fall  upon  it  as  he 
passes.  These  refinements  of  the  practice,  how- 
ever, are  not  indispensable;  the  image  by  itself 
will   suffice.    This   being   made,   the   treatment 


MANA  IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      29 

varies  according  to  the  degree  of  suffering  which 
it  is  desired  to  inflict.^    To  tread  on  a  man's 
shadow  is  to  bring  on  illness ;    in  Wetar  Island, 
near  Celebes,  the  sorcerer  effects  this  by  stab- 
bing a  man's  shadow  with  a  pike,  or  hacking  it 
with  a  sword. ^     "  Mui'ders,"  says  Mary  Kingsley, 
"  are  sometimes  committed  by  secretly  driving 
a  nail  or  knife  into  a  man's  shadow,  but  if  the 
murderer  be  caught  red-handed  at  it,  he  or  she 
would  be  forthwith  killed ;   for  all  diseases  arising 
from  the  shadow-soul  are  incurable."  ^     Among 
the  Baganda  no  man  liked  another  to  tread  on 
his  shadow,  or  to  have  his  shadow  speared,  and 
children  were   warned  not  to  allow  the   fire  to 
cast  their  shadow  on  the  wall  of  the  house  lest 
they   should   die   from   having   seen   themselves 
as  a  shadow.     At  meals  no  one  sat  so  as  to  cast 
his  shadow  over  the   food.*     "  A  friend,"   says 
Mr.   Edgar   Thurston,    "  once   rode   accidentally 
into   a   weaver's    feast,    and    threw  his    shadow 
on  the  food,  whence  arose  consternation."  ^     The 
Arabs  believe  that  if  a  hyena  treads  on  a  man's 
shadow  he   loses   power   of  speech.     Mr.   Skeat 
says  that,   in  Malay  tradition,   a  noxious  snail 
sucks  the  blood  of  animals,  which  it  draws  in  a 

1  Modern  Greek  Folk-lore,  p.  16,  J.  C.  Lawson. 

2  G.B.^,  "Taboo,"  p.  78. 

^  W.  African  Studies,  p.  208. 

*  The  Baganda,  p.  23,  Rev.  J.  Roscoe. 

^  Omens  and  Superstitions  of  S.  India,  p.  108. 


30  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

mysterious  way  through  their  shadows.^  An 
Obeah  man  on  an  estate  in  St.  Davids  was  tried 
for  murder.  One  witness,  a  fellow-negro,  on 
being  asked  if  he  knew  the  prisoner  to  be  an 
Obeah  man,  said,  "  Eas,  massa  shadow-catcher 
true."  "  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?  "  "  Him 
ha  coffin  [a  little  one  was  produced]  him  set 
dat  for  catch  dem  shadow."  "  What  shadow 
do  you  mean?"  "  Wlien  him  set  about  for 
summary  [somebody]  him  catch  dem  shadow 
and  dem  go  dead  and  too  surely  dey  were  soon 
dead."  ^  In  the  Solomon  Islands  a  man  avoids 
places  sacred  to  ghosts  when  the  setting  sun 
casts  his  shadow  into  one  of  them,  for  the  ghost 
would  draw  it  from  him.^  These  people  are 
not  alone  in  reading  their  fate  in  the  shortening 
or  lengthening  of  their  shadows. 

Danger  lurks  in  the  shadows  of  certain  people, 
among  whom  are  to  be  classed  mothers-in-law, 
whose  position  in  families  is  not  always  con- 
tributory to  the  harmony  of  the  household.  In 
a  manuscript  by  Miss  Mary  Howitt  a  story  is 
told  of  an  Australian  native  who  is  said  to  have 
nearly  died  of  fright  because  the  shadow  of  his 
mother-in-law  fell  on  his  legs  as  he  lay  asleep 
under  a  tree* 

1  Malay  Magic,  p.  306. 

2  Practical  View  of  the  Present  State  of  Slavery  in  the 
W.  Indies,  p.  186,  Alex.  Barclay  (1828). 

3  Codrington,  p.  176.  *  G.B.\  "Taboo,"  p.  83. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      31 

The  history  of  sacrificial  customs  has  been 
marked  by  the  gradual  substitution  of  the 
symbolic  for  the  real,  as  in  imitations  or  effigies 
of  persons  and  things  in  place  of  the  originals, 
or  in  the  giving  of  a  part  to  represent  the  whole. 
The  modern  Chinese  are  past-masters  in  that 
mimetic  art.  As  example,  a  few  days  after  the 
death  of  Tzu  Hsi,  the  famous  Empress -Dowager, 
in  1908,  a  huge  paper  barge  crowded  with  paper 
figures  of  attendants  and  of  furniture  and  viands 
for  the  use  of  the  departed,  was  put  up  outside 
the  Forbidden  City,  and  on  the  eve  of  her  burial 
set  ahght  and  burnt  in  order  that  the  "  Old 
Buddha  "  (as  she  was  called)  might  enjoy  the 
use  of  these  at  the  Yellow  Springs,  a  Chinese 
phrase  for  the  spirit  world  .^ 

From  times  immemorial  to  the  present  day 
(as  in  Morocco  and  elsewhere)  the  worship  of 
the  Earth-Mother— Goddess  of  many  names  "  in 
every  clime  adored  "—has  been  accompanied  by 
sacrifices  to  her  to  secure  her  good  will,  or  to 
appease  her  anger,  at  the  disturbance  of  her 
domain,  notably  at  the  erection  of  both  sacred 
and  secular  buildings.  "  The  foundation  stone 
might,  in  fact,  be  called  an  altar,  as  the  primi- 
tive rite  of  laying  it  in  blood  sufficiently  shows."  '^ 

1  China  under  the  Empress  Dowager,  p.  470,  J.  O.  P.  Bland 
and  E.  Backhouse. 

-  Encyclop.  Biblica,  pp.  1558  and  2062.  On  "  founda- 
tion sacrifices  "  see  article  by  Dr.  E.  S.  Hartland,  Hastings's 


32  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

The  evidence  as  to  the  universahty  of  the  custom 
fills  a  long  and  gruesome  chapter  in  the  history 
of  the  martyrdom  of  man ;  ^  here,  reference  to  it 
has  warrant  in  the  modification  which  it  has 
iindergone  in  substitution  of  the  shadow  for  the 
substance,  although  to  this  day  in  rural  Greece 
some  animal  is  killed  when  a  quarry  is  opened 
or  the  ground  cleared  for  building. 

In  his  Modern  Greek  Folk-lore  Mr.  Lawson  says 
that  when  he  was  at  Santorini  "  the  rough 
benevolence  of  a  stranger  dragged  him  from  a 
place  where  he  was  watching  the  laying  of  a 
foundation  stone,  warning  him  that  his  shadow 
must  not  fall  upon  it,  the  popular  belief  being 
that  the  man  himself  will  die  within  the  year." 
Roumanian  casuists  argue  that  "  the  man  whose 
shadow  is  interred  must  die,  but,  being  unaware 
of  his  doom,  he  feels  neither  pain  nor  anxiety, 
so  it  is  less  cruel  than  to  wall-in  a  living  man."  ^ 
When  the  shadow  itself  could  not  be  secured, 
the  wily  builders  measured  it  and  buried  the 
recording  rod  or  tape  in  the  foundations.  It  is 
said  that  some  men  earned  their  living  as  "  shadow- 
measurers."  To  bury  the  measure  is  to  bury 
the  thing  measured,  the  shadow-soul,  and  so  the 

Ency.  Religion  and  Ethics  ;  Dr.  Westermarck's  Origin  and 
Development  of  Moral  Ideas,  Vol.  I.  pp.  461  foil. ;  and  the 
present  writer's  Childhood  of  Religions,  Appendix  D. 

1  Cf.  Josh.  Vi.  26;  1  Kings  xvi.  34. 

2  The  Land  Beyond  the  Forest,  Vol.  II.  p.  17,  E.  D.  Gerard. 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE  THINGS      33 

victim  may  be  said  to  "  die  by  inches."  In 
Malaya,  when  the  central  post  of  a  building  is 
driven  into  the  ground,  "  the  greatest  precau- 
tions are  taken  to  prevent  the  shadow  of  any 
of  the  workers  falling  either  upon  the  post  itself 
or  upon  the  hole  dug  to  receive  it."  The  Malays 
are  not  singular  in  their  belief  in  vegetation- 
souls,  and  at  the  time  of  rice-harvest  the  reapers 
are  careful  to  prevent  their  shadows  falling  on 
the  grains  in  the  basket  at  their  side,  while  they 
repeat  the  charm  :  "  O  Shadows  and  Spectral 
Reapers,  see  that  ye  mingle  not  with  us."  ^  To 
trace  the  custom  to  our  own  times  is  to  follow 
its  successive  modifications  until  we  reach  its 
symbolic  survival  in  the  depositing  of  coins 
bearing  the  king's  effigy  and  copies  of  the  current 
newspapers  within  the  foundation  stone.  This 
is  in  line  with  the  Babylonian  custom  of  deposit- 
ing inscribed  cylinders  and  gold  and  silver  under 
the  four  corners  of  a  new  building.^ 

(b)  Mana  in  Reflections  and  Echoes. 

Even  more  complete  in  its  mimicry  than  the 
shadow  is  the  reflection  of  the  body  in  water, 
or  in  mirror  of  glass  or  polished  metal,  the  image 
repeating  every  gesture  and  colour.  In  rustic 
superstition  the  breaking  of  a  looking-glass  is  a 
portent  of  death,  and  the  mirrors  are  covered 
up  or  turned  to  the  wall  when  a  death  takes  place 

1  Malay  Magic,  p.  245,  Skeat.         ^  cf.  l  Kings  vii.  9-10. 


34  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

in  the  house.  "  It  is  feared  that  the  soul,  pro- 
jected out  of  the  person  in  the  shape  of  his 
reflection  in  the  mirror,  may  be  carried  off  by 
the  ghost  of  the  departed  which  is  commonly 
supposed  to  linger  about  the  house  till  the  burial."^ 
In  Melanesia  damage  was  thought  to  be  done  to 
the  body  by  means  of  the  reflection  "  as  when  a 
man's  face  was  reflected  in  a  certain  spring  of 
water,"  and  in  Saddle  Island  there  is  a  pool  into 
which  if  anyone  look  he  dies  :  the  malignant 
spirit  takes  hold  upon  his  life  by  means  of  his 
reflection  in  the  water.^  The  Andamenese 
"  do  not  regard  their  shadows,  but  their  reflec- 
tions in  any  mirror,  as  their  souls,"  and  the 
same  belief  is  active  not  only  among  races  on 
the  same  level,  but  in  Oriental  philosophy.  In 
the  Upanishad  the  Brahman  is  made  to  say, 
"  The  person  that  is  in  the  mirror,  on  him  I 
meditate."  ^  Sage  and  savage  alike  regard  the 
reflection  as  the  actual  soul. 

''  One  method  among  the  Aztecs  of  keeping 
away  sorcerers  was  to  leave  a  bowl  of  water 
with  a  knife  in  it  behind  the  door.  A  sorcerer 
entering  would  be  so  alarmed  at  seeing  his 
likeness  transfixed  that  he  would  turn  and 
flee,"  *  while  in  Cappadocia  the  danger  of  the 

1  G.B.\  "Taboo,"  p.  94.  2  Codrington,  p.  250. 

2  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  Vol.  I.  p.  235. 
*  The  Evil  Eye,  p.  83,  F.  T.  Elworthy. 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE  THINGS      35 

reflection  of  a  man's  own  image  putting  the 
evil  eye  upon  him  is  so  great  that  at  night^ 
when  the  risk  is  greatest — no  one  would  dare  to 
incur  it.^  Catoptromancy,  or  divination  by  a 
mirror,  has  formed  part  of  the  stock  apparatus 
of  sorcerers  of  all  ages,  down  to  the  modern 
clairvoyant  who  reads  fate  and  fortune  in  crystal 
balls^  and  pots  of  ink,  while  scrying  fortune- 
tellers receive  certificates  of  commendation  from 
men  of  repute,  who,  because  they  speak  with 
authority  on  subjects  which  are  their  special 
study,  are  accepted  by  the  unthinking  and 
gullible  as  authorities  on  everything  else,  whereas, 
outside  their  own  domain,  they  have  proved 
themselves  as  credulous  and  as  easily  hood- 
winked as  the  crowd  who  swear  by  them. 

In  the  echoes  which  forest  and  hillside  fling 
back  the  savage  hears  confirmation  of  his  belief 
in  his  other  self,  as  well  as  in  the  nearness  of 
the  spirits  of  the  dead.  The  Sonora  Indians 
believe  that  the  souls  of  the  departed  dwell 
among  their  mountainous  cliffs  and  that  the 
echoes    are    their    clamouring    voices.     The    re- 

^  Lawson,  p.  10. 

2  The  Society  for  Psychical  Research  offers  for  sale  crystal 
balls  at  from  three  shillings  to  eight  shillings  each,  and 
expresses  itself  as  "  grateful  for  accounts  of  any  experiments 
which  may  be  tried." 


36  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

echoing  of  their  voices  in  the  Parana  forest  has 
among  the  Abipones  the  same  explanation.  The 
Indians  of  the  Rockies  would  not  venture  near 
Manitobah  Island  because  in  the  sound  of  the 
low  wailing  waves  beating  on  the  beach  they 
heard  voices  from  the  spirit  land.  In  South 
Pacific  myth  Echo  is  the  parent  fairy  to  whom 
at  Marquesas  divine  honours  are  paid  as  the 
giver  of  food  and  as  "  she  who  speaks  to  the 
worshipper  out  of  the  rocks."  ^  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  word  for  echo  is  wudu-maer,  i.  e.  wood 
nymph.  As  one  of  the  Oreades,  Echo,  for  con- 
niving at  the  amours  of  Jupiter,  was  changed 
by  the  jealous  Juno  into  a  lovesick  maiden, 
until,  pining  in  grief  at  her  unrequited  love  for 
Narcissus,  there  remained  nothing  but  her  voice. 

(c)  Mana  in  Personal  Names. 

Taboo  is  the  dread  tyrant  of  savage  life. 
Among  civilized  peoples,  under  the  guise  of 
customs  whose  force  is  stronger  than  law,  it 
rules  in  larger  degree  than  most  persons  care 
to  admit.  But  among  barbaric  communities  it 
puts  a  ring  fence  round  the  simplest  acts,  regu- 
lates all  intercourse  by  the  minutest  codes,  and 
secures  obedience  to  its  manifold  prohibitions 
by  threats  of  punishment  to  be  inflicted  by  magic 
and  other  apparatus  of  the  invisible.  It  may  be 
called  the  Inquisition  of  the  lower  culture, 
1  Dorman,  pp.  42,  302. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      37 

because  it  is  as  terrible  and  effective  as  was  the 
infamous  "  Holy  Office."  Nowhere,  perhaps,  does 
it  exert  more  constant  sway  than  in  the  series 
of  customs  associated  with  Names. 

To  the  civilized  man,  his  name  is  only  a 
necessary  label  :  to  the  savage  it  is  an  integi-al 
part  of  himself.  He  believes  that  to  disclose  it 
is  to  put  its  owner  in  the  power  of  another, 
whereby  magic  can  be  wrought  on  the  named. 
He  applies  it  all  round — to  himself,  to  his  rela- 
tives and  friends,  to  persons  and  things  invested 
with  sanctity,  to  the  dead  as  well  as  the 
living  and  to  demons  and  to  godhngs,  and,  in 
ascending  scale,  to  the  great  gods  themselves. 
Hence  the  numerous  precautions  taken  by  the 
lower  races  to  conceal  their  names  especially 
from  sorcerers  and,  per  contra,  the  effort  to 
discover  the  names  of  those  over  whom  power 
is  sought.  The  belief  is  part  of  that  general 
confusion  between  names  and  things  and  between 
symbols  and  realities  to  which  reference  has 
been  made.  It  lies  at  the  root  of  fetishism  and 
idolatry,  of  witchcraft,  shamanism,  and  all  other 
instruments  which  are  as  keys  to  the  invisible 
company  of  the  dreaded  and  unknown.  Where 
such  ideas  prevail,  everything  becomes  a  vehicle 
of  magic  ruling  the  life,  not  only  of  the  savage 
but,  although  in  lesser  degree,  that  of  the  so- 
called  civilized.     Ignorant   of  the   properties   of 


38  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

things,  and  ruled  by  the  superficial  likenesses 
which  many  exhibit,  the  barbaric  mind  regards 
them  as  vehicles  of  good  and  evil,  chiefly  evil, 
because  things  are  feared  in  the  degree  that 
they  are  unknown,  and  because,  where  life  is 
mainly  struggle,  man  is  ever  on  the  watch 
against  malice-working  agencies,  wizards,  medi- 
cine-men, and  all  their  kin.  That  he  should 
envisage  the  intangible;  that  his  name  should 
be  an  entity,  an  integral  part  of  himself;  should 
the  less  surprise  us  when  it  is  remembered  that 
language,  from  the  simple  phrases  of  common 
life  to  the  highest  abstract  terms,  rests  on  the 
concrete.  To  apprehend  a  thing  is  to  "  seize  " 
it  or  "  lay  hold  of  "  it ;  to  possess  a  thing  is  to 
sit  by  or  "  beset."  To  call  a  man  a  "  syco- 
phant "  is  to  borrow  the  term  "  fig-blabber " 
applied  by  the  Greeks  to  the  informers  against 
those  who  broke  the  Attic  law  prohibiting  the 
export  of  figs ;  to  say  that  a  man  is  "  super- 
cilious "  is  to  describe  him  as  "  raising  his  eye- 
brows," while,  as  everybody  knows,  the  words  "  dis- 
aster," "  lunatic  "  and  "  consideration  "  embalm 
the  old  belief  in  the  influence  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  on  man's  fate.  Even  in  the  verb  "to 
be,"  and  its  several  tenses,  some  philologists 
detect  relics  of  words  which  once  had  a  physical 
significance. 

Starting  at  the  bottom  of  the  scale,  Backhouse 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      39 

says  that  the  Tasmanians  showed  great  dishke 
to  their   names   being  mentioned.     Mr.  Brough 
Smyth  says  that  the  Victoria  black-fellows  are 
very  unwilling  to  tell  their  real  names,  and  that 
this   reluctance   is   due   to   the   fear   of  putting 
themselves  at  the  mercy  of  sorcerers.     The  same 
authority  tells  this  story.     A  fever-stricken  Aus- 
tralian native  girl  told  the  doctor  who  attended 
her  that,  some  moons  back,  when  the  Goulburn 
blacks   were   encamped   at   Melbourne,   a  young 
man    named    Gibberook   came    behind    her    and 
cut  off  a  lock  of  her  hair,  and  that  she  was  sure 
he  had  buried  it  and  that  it  was  rotting  some- 
where.    Her  marm-bu-la  (kidney  fat)  was  wasting 
away,  and  when  the  stolen  hair  had  completely 
rotted  she  would  die.     She  added  that  her  name 
had   been   lately  cut  on   a  tree   by   some    wild 
black  and  that  was  another  sign  of  death.     Her 
name  was  Murran,  which  means  "  a  leaf,"  and 
the  doctor  afterwards  found  that  the   figure  of 
leaves  had  been  carved  on  a  gum  tree  as  described 
by  the  girl.    The  sorceress  said  that  the  spirit 
of  a  black-fellow  had  cut  the  figure  on  the  tree.^ 
Wlien  a  party  enters  the  wood  with  the  Nganga 
(doctor)  attached  to  the   service   of  the   fetishes 
Zinkiei    Mbowu   (nail   fetishes   into   which    nails 
are  driven)  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  the  Muamba 
tree,  to  make  a  fetish,  it  is  forbidden  for  anyone 
^  Aborigines  of  Victoria,  Vol.  I.  p.  469. 


40  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

to  call  another  by  his  name.  If  he  does  so, 
that  man  will  die  and  his  Kulu  will  enter  into 
the  tree  and  become  the  presiding  spirit  of  the 
fetish  when  made.  So  a  palaver  is  held  to 
decide  whose  Kulu  is  to  enter  the  tree.  A  boy 
of  great  spirit,  or  preferably,  a  daring  hunter,  is 
chosen.  Then  they  go  into  the  bush  and  call  his 
name.  The  Nganga  cuts  down  the  tree  and  blood 
is  said  to  gush  forth,  a  fowl  is  killed  and  its  blood 
is  mingled  with  that  of  the  tree.  The  named- 
one  dies  certainly  within  ten  days.  His  life  has 
been  sacrificed  for  what  the  Zinganga  consider 
the  welfare  of  the  people.  They  say  that  the 
named-one  never  fails  to  die.^  Per  contra,  among 
some  tribes  of  Southern  India,  men  cause  their 
name  to  be  cut  on  rocks  on  the  wayside  or  on 
the  stones  with  which  the  path  leading  to  the 
temple  is  paved,  in  the  behef  that  good  luck 
will  result  if  their  name  is  trodden  on."  ^ 

Among  the  Tshi -speaking  tribes  of  West  Africa, 
"  a  man's  name  is  always  concealed  from  all  but 
his  nearest  relatives,  and  to  other  persons  he  is 
always  known  by  an  assumed  name,"  a  nick- 
name, as  we  should  say.  The  Ewe-speaking 
peoples  "  believe  in  a  real  material  connection 
between  a  man  and  his  name,  and  that,  by  means 

1  At  the  Back  of  the  Black  Man's  Mind,  p.  93,  R.  E. 
Dennett. 

2  Thurston,  p.  357. 


MANA  IN   INTANGIBLE  THINGS      41 

of  the  name,  injury  may  be  done  to  the  man."  ^ 
Sir  Everard  Im  Thurn  says  that  although  the 
Indians  of  British  Guiana  have  an  intricate 
system  of  names,  it  is  "  of  httle  use  in  that 
the  owners  have  a  very  strong  objection  to 
teUing  or  using  them,  apparently  on  the  ground 
that  the  name  is  part  of  the  man,  and  that  he 
who  knows  it  has  part  of  the  owner  of  that 
name  in  his  power.  To  avoid  any  danger  of 
spreading  knowledge  of  their  names,  one  Indian 
therefore  usually  addresses  another  only  accord- 
ing to  the  relationship  of  the  caller  and  the 
called.  But  an  Indian  is  just  as  unwilling  to 
tell  his  proper  name  to  a  white  man  as  to  an 
Indian,  and  as,  of  course,  between  those  two 
there  is  no  relationship  the  term  for  which  can 
serve  as  a  proper  name,  the  Indian  asks  the 
European  to  give  him  a  name  which  is  usually 
written  on  a  piece  of  paper  by  the  donor,  and 
shown  by  the  Indian  to  any  white  man  who 
asks  his  name."  ^  An  amusing  example  of  tem- 
porary surrender  of  the  name  as  security  for  a 
loan  is  given  by  Mr.  Frank  Boas  in  his  Report 
to  the  Smithsonian  Institute  on  the  Social  Organiza- 
tion and  Secret  Societies  of  the  Kwakiutl  Indians 
of  British  Columbia  (1898).     A  poor  person  in 

^  The  Tshi-Speaking  Peoples  of  the  Gold  Coast,  p.  109; 
The  Ewe-Speaking  People,  p.  98,  Sir  A.  B.  Ellis. 
2  Among  the  Indians  of  Guiana,\^.  22. 


42  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

debt  may  pawn  his  name,  say  "  Flying  Cloud," 
for  a  year,  during  which  he  calls  himself  something 
else,  or  is  anonymous.  If  he  borrows  thirty 
blankets,  he  has  to  redeem  the  loan  by  paying 
back  one  hundred  blankets.  If  his  credit  is 
fairly  good,  he  may  borrow  on  terms  of  repay- 
ment of  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  blankets.  These 
articles,  and  also  copper  plates,  are  the  media 
of  exchange.  Mr.  Boas  met  a  swaggering  native 
who  was  the  owner  of  seven  thousand  five  hundred 
blankets.  The  Indians  of  British  Columbia,  and 
the  prejudice  "  appears  to  pervade  all  tribes 
alike,"  dislike  telling  their  names — ^thus  you 
never  get  a  man's  right  name  from  himself,  but 
they  will  tell  each  other's  names  without  hesita- 
tion.^ In  correspondence  with  this,  the  Abipones 
of  South  America  would  nudge  their  neighbour 
to  answer  for  them  when  anyone  among  them 
was  asked  his  name,  and  the  natives  of  the  Fiji 
Islands  would  get  any  third  party  who  might 
be  present  to  answer  as  to  their  names  .^    "  Among 

*  British  Columbia,  p.  278,  R.  C.  Mayne. 

2  Possibly,  this  falls  into  line  with  an  experience  of  which 
a  lady  friend  who  was  sketching  in  North  Wales  told  me. 
Five  little  girls  came  up  to  see  what  she  was  doing,  when 
she  asked  their  names.  The  first  girl  simpered  and,  point- 
ing to  the  girl  standing  next  to  her,  said,  "  Her  name  is 
Jenny  Owen,"  and  not  one  of  them  would  tell  her  own 
name.  "  The  children,"  she  says,  "  were  not  shy  on  other 
topics,  but  they  were  not  to  be  beguiled  over  this."  And 
it  may  not  be  so  far-fetched  as  it  seems  to  detect  traces  of 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE  THINGS      43 

the  Sakai — ^the  hill  tribesmen  of  the  Malay 
Peninsula,  men  of  the  Mon-Annam  stock — ^the 
dislike  of  mentioning  proper  names  is  very 
strong.  Among  the  tamer  tribes,  where  men 
have  come  into  closest  contact  with  the  Malays, 
only  the  prejudice  against  mentioning  one's  own 
name  survives,  but  in  the  interior,  notably  in 
the  valley  of  Telom  in  Pahang,  which  is  near 
the  centre  of  the  peninsula,  the  dislike  of  men- 
tioning names  is  carried  to  extraordinary  lengths. 
When  I  made  a  considerable  stay  in  the  Telom 
valley  in  1890,  the  whole  valley  was  anonymous 
as  far  as  I  was  concerned,  with  the  exception  of 
one  man — ^Naish,  the  Porcupine — whose  name  was 
whispered  to  me  by  a  mischievous  little  boy  who 
obviously  delighted  in  doing  anything  so  reck- 
lessly naughty.  In  speaking  of  one  another, 
the  Sakai  of  this  part  of  Pahang  referred  to 
'  the  Old  Man  of  such  and  such  a  village,'  to 
'  my  brother-in-law  of  this  place,'  to  '  my 
cousin  of  that  place,'  and  so  on  and  so  on.  To 
me  this  was  most  bewildering,  but  to  the  Sakai 
it  seemed  to  present  no  obstacles  or  difficulties — 

survival  of  the  avoidance-superstition  in  the  game-rhyme 
of  childhood — 

"  What  is  your  name  ? 
Pudding  and  tame ; 
If  you  ask  me  again,  I'll  tell  you  the  same." 

For  variants  of  this  rhyme  see  Notes  and  Queries,  6th 
Series,  i.  417;  ii.  55,  277. 


44  MAGIC  IN    NAMES 

and  to  lead  to  no  confusion.  I  have  sometimes 
fancied  that  it  was  due  to  the  fact  that  I  was 
the  first  white  man  seen  by  these  tribesmen 
that  the  names  of  all  were  so  carefully  hidden 
from  me,  as  I  found  that  some  of  the  Malays 
living  in  the  valley  who  spoke  Sakai  were 
acquainted  with  the  names  of  the  prominent 
tribesmen  in  the  place.  The  Sakai  will  never 
mention  the  name  of  anyone  who  is  dead."  ^ 

An  Indian  asked  Dr.  Kane  whether  his  wish 
to  know  his  name  arose  from  a  desire  to  steal 
it;  and  the  Araucanians  would  not  allow  their 
names  to  be  told  to  strangers  lest  these  should 
be  used  in  sorcery.  Among  the  Ojibways,  hus- 
bands and  wives  never  told  each  other's  names, 
and  children  were  warned  that  they  would  stop 
growing  if  they  repeated  their  own  names.  Of 
the  Abipones  just  named,  Dobrizhoffer  reported 
that  they  would  knock  at  his  door  at  night, 
and,  when  asked  who  was  there,  would  not 
answer  for  fear  of  letting  their  names  be  known 
to  any  evilly-disposed  listener.  A  like  motive 
probably  explains  the  reluctance  of  which  Gregor 
speaks  in  his  Folk-lore  of  the  North-East  of 
Scotland,  when  "  folk  calling  at  a  house  of  the 
better  class  on  business  with  the  master  or 
mistress    had    a   very   strong   dislike   to   telling 

1  Extract  from  a  letter  from  His  Excellency  Sir  Hugh 
Clifford,  K.C.M.G.,  to  the  present  writer. 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS      45 

their  names  to  the  servant  who  admitted  them."  ^ 
I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  W.  B.  Yeats  for  a  letter 
from  an  Irish  correspondent,  who  tells  of  a  fairy- 
haunted    old    woman   Uving   in    King's    County. 
Her   tormentors,    whom    she    calls    the    "  Fairy 
Band  of  Shinrone,"  come  from  Tipperary.     They 
pelt  her  with  invisible  missiles,  hurl  abuse  at  her, 
and  rail  against  her  family,  both  the  dead  and 
the   hving,   until   she   is   driven   well-nigh   mad. 
And   all  this   spite   is   manifested   because  they 
cannot    find    out    her    name,    for   if  they   could 
learn  that,  she  would  be  in  their  power.     Some- 
times   sarcasm    or    chaff    are    employed,    and    a 
nickname  is  given  her  to  entrap  her  into  teUing 
her  real  name,  all  which  she  freely  talks  about 
often    with    fits    of    laughter.     But    the    fairies 
trouble  her  most  at  night,  coming  in  through  the 
wall  over  her   bed-head,   which  is   no   laughing 
matter,  and  then,  being  a  good  Protestant,  she 
recites  chapters   and   verses   from  the   Bible  to 
charm  them  away.     And  although  she  has  been 
thus  plagued  for  years,  she  still  holds  her  own 
against  the   "  band  of  Shinrone."     Speaking  in 
general  terms  on  this  name-concealment  custom, 
Captain    Bourke    says    that    "the    name    of   an 
American  Indian  is  a  sacred  thing,  never  to  be 
divulged    by    the    owner    himself    without    due 
consideration.     One  may  ask  a  warrior  of  any 

1  p.  30. 


46  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

tribe  to  give  his  name,  and  the  question  will  be 
met  with  either  a  point-blank  refusal  or  the 
more  diplomatic  evasion  that  he  cannot  under- 
stand what  is  wanted  of  him.  The  moment  a 
friend  approaches,  the  warrior  will  whisper  what 
is  wanted,  and  the  friend  can  tell  the  name, 
receiving  a  reciprocation  of  the  courtesy  from 
the  inquirer."  ^  Grinnell  says  that  many  Black- 
feet  change  their  names  every  season.  Wlien- 
ever  a  Blackfoot  counts  a  new  coup  (i.  e.  some 
deed  of  bravery)  he  is  entitled  to  a  new  name, 
in  the  same  way  that  among  ourselves  a  vic- 
torious general  or  admiral  sometimes  sinks  his 
name  when  raised  to  a  peerage.  "  A  Blackfoot 
will  never  tell  his  name  if  he  can  avoid  it,  in  the 
belief  that  if  he  should  reveal  it  he  would  be 
unlucky  in  all  his  undertakings ."  ^  *'  The  warriors 
of  the  Plains  Tribes  used  to  assume  agnomens  or 
battle -names,  and  I  have  known  some  of  them 
who  had  enjoyed  as  many  as  four  or  five,  but 
the  Apache  name,  once  conferred,  seems  to 
remain  through  life,  except  in  the  case  of  medi- 
cine-men, who,  I  have  always  suspected,  change 
their  names  on  assuming  their  profession,  much 
as  a  professor  of  learning  in  China  is  said  to  do."  ^ 
(But    examples    of   this    name -change    fall   into 

1  Medicine  Men  of  the  Apache,  p.  461,  J.  G.  Bourke. 

2  Blackfoot  Lodge  Tales,  p.  194. 

3  Bourke,  p.  462. 


MANA  IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      47 

place  later  on.)  To  this  reference  to  warriors 
may  be  added  a  story  told  by  J.  B.  Fraser  in 
his  Tour  to  the  Himalayas.  In  one  of  the 
despatches  intercepted  during  our  war  with 
Nepaul,  Goree  Sah  had  sent  orders  "  to  find  out 
the  name  of  the  Commander  of  the  British 
army  :  write  it  upon  a  piece  of  paper ;  take  it 
and  some  rice  and  turmeric;  say  the  great 
incantation  three  times ;  having  said  it,  send 
for  some  plum-tree  wood  and  therewith  burn 
it."  There  is  a  story  in  the  annals  of  British 
conquests  in  India  that  General  Lord  Comber- 
mere  took  a  city  with  surprisingly  little  resist- 
ance, because  his  name  signified  "  Kumbhir," 
the  native  word  for  "  alligator,"  there  being  an 
oracle  that  the  city  would  be  captured  by  that 
reptile.  Phonetic  confusion  explains  the  honours 
paid  to  Commissioner  Gubbins  by  the  native  of 
Oude  :  Govinda  being  the  favourite  name  of 
Krishna,  the  popular  incarnation  of  Vishnu. 

In  the  early  stages  of  society,  blood-relationsliip 
is  the  sole  tie  that  unites  men  into  tribal  com- 
munities. As  Sir  Henry  Maine  has  observed, 
"  there  was  no  brotherhood  recognized  by  our 
savage  forefathers  except  actual  consanguinity 
regarded  as  a  fact.  If  a  man  was  not  of  kin  to 
another,  there  was  nothing  between  them.  He 
was  an  enemy  to  be  slain  or  spoiled  or  hated, 
as    much   as   the    wild    beasts    upon   which   the 


48  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

tribes  made  war,  as  belonging,  indeed,  to  the 
craftiest  and  cruelest  order  of  wild  animals.  It 
would  scarcely  be  too  strong  an  assertion  that 
the  dogs  which  followed  the  camp  had  more  in 
common  with  it  than  the  tribesmen  of  an  alien 
and  unrelated  tribe."  ^  And  although  enlarged 
knowledge,  in  unison  with  gi'owing  recognition 
of  mutual  rights  and  obligations,  has  extended 
the  feeling  of  community,  an  unprejudiced  out- 
look on  the  world  does  not  warrant  the  hope 
that  the  old  tribal  feeling  has  passed  the  limits 
of  race.  Human  nature  being  what  it  is,  charged 
with  the  manifold  forces  of  self-assertion  and 
aggression  bequeathed  by  a  stormy  and  strug- 
gling past,  the  various  nationalities,  basing  their 
claims  and  their  unity  on  the  theory  of  blood- 
relationship,  do  their  best  to  dispel  the  dream 
of  the  unity  of  all  mankind. 

As  already  observed,  the  importance  and  sanc- 
tity attached  to  blood  explain  the  existence 
of  a  large  number  of  rites  connected  with  cove- 
nants between  man  and  his  fellows,  and  between 
man  and  his  gods;  covenants  sealed  by  the 
drinking,  or  interfusing  or  offering  of  blood. 
Any  full  account  of  these  rites,  notably  on  their 
sacrificial  side,  would  need  a  volume;  here 
reference  is  made  to  them  in  connection  with  the 
custom  of  exchange  of  names,  or  with  the  bestowal 
^  Early  Hist,  of  Institutions,  p.  65. 


MANA  IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      49 

of    new    names,    which    sometimes    accompanies 
them. 

Herbert  Spencer  remarks  that  "  by  absorbing 
each  other's  blood,  men  are  supposed  to  estab- 
lish actual  community  of  nature,"  and  as  it  is 
a  widely  diffused  belief  that  the  name  is  vitally 
connected  with  its  owner,  to  exchange  names 
is  to  estabhsh  some  participation  in  one  another's 
being.^  Hence  the  blending  is  regarded  as  more 
complete  when  exchange  of  name  goes  with  the 
mingling  of  blood,  making  even  more  obligatory 
the  rendering  of  services  between  those  who  are 
no  longer  aliens  to  each  other.  Wlien  Tolo,  a 
Shastikan  chief,  made  a  treaty  with  Colonel 
M'Kee,  an  American  officer,  as  to  certain  con- 
cessions, he  desired  some  ceremony  of  brother- 
hood to  make  the  covenant  binding,  and,  after 
some  parleying,  proposed  an  exchange  of  names, 
which  was  agTeed  to.  Thenceforth  he  became 
M'Kee  and  M'Kee  became  Tolo.  But  after  a 
while  the  Indian  found  that  the  American  was 
shuffling  over  the  bargain,  whereupon  "  M'Kee  " 
angrily  cast  off  that  name,  and  refused  to  resume 
that  of  "  Tolo."  He  would  not  answer  to  either, 
and  to  the  day  of  his  death  insisted  that  his 
name,  and  therefore  his  identity,  was  lost.^ 
There  is  no  small  pathos  in  this  revolt  of  the  rude 

^  Principles  of  Sociology,  Pt.  II.  p.  729. 

2  Contributions  to  N.  American  Ethnology,  Vol.  III.  p.  247. 

£ 


50  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

moral  sense  of  the  Indian  against  the  white 
man's  trickery,  and  in  the  utter  muddle  of  his 
mind  as  to  who  and  what  he  had  become. 

The  custom  of  name-exchanging  existed  in 
the  West  Indies  at  the  time  of  Columbus,  and  in 
the  South  Seas,  Captain  Cook  and  a  native, 
named  Oree,  made  an  exchange,  whereby  Cook 
became  Oree  and  the  native  became  Cookee. 
''  But  Cadwallader  Colden's  account  of  his  new 
name  is  admirable  evidence  of  what  there  is  in 
a  name  to  the  mind  of  the  savage.  *  The  first 
time  I  was  among  the  Mohawks  I  had  this 
compliment  from  one  of  their  old  Sachems, 
which  he  did  by  giving  me  his  own  name,  Cayen- 
derongue.  He  had  been  a  notable  warrior,  and 
he  told  me  that  now  I  had  a  right  to  assume  all 
the  acts  of  valour  he  had  performed,  and  that 
now  my  name  would  echo  from  hill  to  hill  over 
all  the  Five  Nations.''  When  Colden  went  back 
into  the  same  part  ten  or  twelve  years  later, 
he  found  that  he  was  still  known  by  the  name 
he  had  thus  received,  and  that  the  old  chief 
had  taken  another."  ^ 

Religious  conversions  do  not  always  improve 
morality.  An  old  negro  came  one  day  to  com- 
plain of  a  newly  christened  neighbour  refusing 
to  pay  an  old  debt  of  a  doubloon  which  had 
been  lent  him  to  buy  a  share  of  a  cow.  The 
1  Early  Hist.  Mankind,  p.  128,  Sir  E.  B.  Tylor. 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE  THINGS      51 

nominal  Christian  affected  ignorance  of  the  debt 
and  surprise  at  the  demand.  He  said  the  old 
man  lent  the  doubloon  to  Quamina  :  but  he  was 
not  Quamina  now;  he  was  a  new  man,  born 
again,  and  called  Timothy,  and  was  not  bound 
to  pay  the  debt  of  the  dead  man,  Quamina. 
Wlien  his  master  told  him  to  pay  the  money  or 
make  over  his  share  of  the  cow,  he  swore,  and 
cursed  the  preacher's  religion,  since  it  was  "  no 
worth."  The  old  man  said  that  "  formerly 
people  minded  the  puntees  hung  up  in  the  trees 
and  grounds  as  charms  to  keep  off  tiefs,  but 
there  was  so  much  preachy  preachy,  the  lazy 
fellows  did  nothing  but  ticf."  ^ 

(d)  Mana  in  Names  of  Relatives. 

To  the   cynic  whose   mother-in-law  ruled   his 

household,  and  who,  when  a  friend  said  to  him, 

"  Well,    there's    no    place    like    home,"    replied, 

"  No,  thank  God,  there  isn't,"  residence  among 

the  Central  Australians  might  be  a  relief.     Among 

these    tribes   a   man   may   not   marry   or  speak 

to  his  mother-in-law.     The  first  prohibition  falls 

into  line  with  number  twelve  of  the  "  Table  of 

Kindred  and  Affinity  "  in  the  Book  of  Common 

Prayer,  which  Table  is  simplicity  itself  compared 

with  the  complexity  of  marriage  customs  among 

the  Arunta  and  other  tribes.     In  some  parts  of 

^  A  Tour  Through  the  Island  of  Jamaica  in  1823,  p.  19, 
Cjoiric  R.  Williams. 


52  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

Australia  the  mother-in-law  does  not  allow  the 
son-in-law  to  see  her,  but  hides  herself  at  his 
approach  or  covers  herself  with  her  clothes  if 
she  has  to  pass  him.^  Pund-jel,  the  Australian 
creator  of  all  things,  has  a  wife  whose  face  he  has 
never  seen.  In  New  Britain  a  man  must  under 
no  circumstances  speak  to  his  mother-in-law : 
he  must  go  miles  out  of  his  way  not  to  meet 
her,  and  the  penalty  for  breaking  an  oath  is  to 
be  forced  to  shake  hands  with  her.^  "  Among 
the  Hill  Sakai  of  Upper  Perak  I  was  informed 
that  the  avoidance  of  the  mother-in-law  was 
strictly  observed,  and  that  it  was  not  allowable 
to  speak  to  her  directly,  to  pass  in  front  of  her, 
or  even  to  hand  her  anything."  ^  The  names  of 
mothers-in-law  are  never  uttered  by  the  Apache, 
and  it  would  be  very  improper  to  ask  for  them 
by  name.^  Among  the  Veddas  "  a  man  does 
not  speak  the  name  of  his  mother-in-law  or  of 
his  daughter-in-law,  and  they  in  turn  refrain 
from  speaking  his  name.  There  is  a  general 
tendency  to  avoid  the  use  of  names,  and,  where 
possible,  to  indicate  an  individual  by  a  relative 
term."  ^ 

1  Brough  Smyth,  Vol.  I.  p.  423. 

2  Western  Pacific  and  New  Guinea,  H.  Romilly. 

3  "Some  Sakai  Beliefs  and  Customs,"  Ivor  Evans,  Jowrnai 
ofAnthrop.  Institute,  p.  195,  Vol.  XL VIII.  1918. 

^  Bourke  {Apache),  p.  461. 

s  The  Veddas,  p.  69,  C.  G.  and  B.  Seligman. 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE  THINGS      53 

Among  the  Sioux  or  Dacotas  the  father- 
in-law  must  not  call  his  son-in-law  by  name, 
and  vice  versa,  while  the  Indians  east  of  the 
Rockies  regard  it  as  indecent  for  either  fathers- 
in-law  to  look  at,  or  speak  to,  their  sons-  or 
daughters-in-law.  It  was  considered  a  gross 
breach  of  propriety  among  the  Blackfoot  tribe 
for  a  man  to  meet  his  mother-in-law;  and  if  by 
any  mischance  he  did  so,  or,  what  was  worse, 
if  he  spoke  to  her,  she  demanded  a  heavy  pay- 
ment which  he  was  compelled  to  make.^  A  man 
may  speak  to  his  mother  at  all  times,  but  not 
to  his  sister  if  she  be  younger  than  himself;  a 
father  may  not  speak  to  his  daughter  after  she 
becomes  a  woman.  The  name  of  his  father-in- 
law  is  taboo  to  the  Dyak  of  Borneo,  and  among 
the  Omahas  of  North  America  the  father-  and 
mother-in-law  do  not  speak  to  their  son-in-law, 
or  mention  his  name.^  In  Santa  Cruz,  when 
the  woman  is  bought,  she  becomes  taboo,  and 
the  bridegroom  must  not  see  his  mother-in-law's 
face  as  long  as  he  lives ;  he  must  not  speak  her 
name ;  it  does  not  matter  if  it  be  any  article  or 
thing  of  her  name,  he  must  give  it  a  different 
name.^  In  British  Central  Africa  the  prohibition 
against    a   man   speaking   to    his    mother-in-law 

^  Pawnee  Stories,  p.  195,  G.  B.  Grinnell. 

2  Boiirke,  p.  423. 

3  Journal  of  Anthrop,  Institute,  Vol.  XXXIV.  p.  223. 


54  MAGIC  IN   NAMES 

is   allowed  to   lapse  if  sterility  of  the   married 
couple  persists  for  three  years. ^ 

In  the  Bougainville  Straits  the  men  would 
utter  the  names  of  their  wives  only  in  a  low  tone, 
as  it  was  not  the  proper  thing  to  speak  of  women 
by  their  name  to  others. ^  Sir  E.  B.  Tylor  says 
that  *'  among  the  Barea  of  East  Africa  the  wife 
never  utters  the  name  of  her  husband,  or  eats 
in  his  presence,  and  even  among  the  Beni  Amer, 
where  the  women  have  extensive  privileges  and 
great  social  power,  the  wife  is  not  allowed  to 
eat  in  her  husband's  presence  and  only  mentions 
his  name  before  strangers."  ^  Hausa  wives  must 
not  address  their  husbands  by  name,  not,  at 
any  rate,  their  first  liusbands,  nor  must  they 
tell  it  to  others  :  there  is  a  song  "  O  God,  I 
repent,  I  have  spoken  the  name  of  my  husband."  * 

"  A  man  from  near  Pertang  in  Jelebu,  said 
that  his  people  did  not  dare  to  mention  the 
names  of  their  fathers,  because  they  were  afraid 
of  being  struck  by  the  indwelhng  power  (daulat) 
of  that  relation."  ^  In  the  Banks  Islands  the 
rules  as  to  avoidance  are  very  minute.  "  A 
man  who  sits  and  talks  with  his  wife's  father 


1 


Journal  ofAtithrop.  Institute,  Vol.  XL.  p.  309. 

2  The  Solomon  Islands,  p.  47,  Dr.  Guppy. 

3  Early  Hist.  Mankind,  p.  143. 

*  Hausa  Superstitions,  p.  180,  A.  J.  Tremearn.  / 

5  "  Some  Sakai  Beliefs  and  Customs,"  Ivor  Evans,  I.e., 
p.  195. 


MANA  IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      55 

will  not  mention  his  name,  much  less  the  name 
of  his  mother-in-law,  and  the  like  apphcs  to  the 
wife,  who,  fm-ther,  will  on  no  account  name  her 
daughter's  husband."  ^  But  these  prohibitions 
are  not  found  in  all  the  Melanesian  Islands. 
An  unusual  type  of  the  taboo  is  supphed  by  the 
Ba-Huana  of  Central  Africa.  A  man  must  avoid 
his  wife's  parents,  but  his  wife  can  visit  her 
husband's  parents,  and  the  taboo  on  her  is  hmited 
to  intercourse  with  his  maternal  uncle  .^ 

Sometimes  circumlocutory  phrases  are  used, 
although,  as  will  be  seen  presently,  these  are 
more  usually  apphed  to  supernatural  beings. 
For  example,  among  the  Amazulu  the  woman 
must  not  call  her  husband  by  name;  therefore, 
when  speaking  of  him,  she  will  say,  *'  Father  of 
So-and-so,"  meaning  one  of  her  children.  In 
"  The  Story  of  Tangalimbibo  "  the  heroine  speaks 
of  things  done  "  knowingly  by  people  whose 
names  may  not  be  mentioned  " ;  upon  which 
Mr.  Theal  remarks,  "  No  Kaffir  woman  may 
pronounce  the  names  of  any  of  her  husband's 
male  relatives  in  the  ascending  line;  she  may 
not  even  pronounce  any  word  in  whicli  the 
principal  syllable  of  his  name  occurs.  She  may 
not  even  pronounce  those  names  mentally :  hence 

1  Codrington,  p.  44. 

2  "  Notes  on  tlie  Ethnography  of  the  Ba-Hiiana,"  Torday 
and  Joyce,  J.A.I.,  Vol.  XXXVI.  p.  274, 


56  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

there    has    arisen    a    woman's    language    which 
differs    considerably   from   that    of  the    men."  ^ 
Mr.  Dudley  Kidd  tells  how  an  Enghsh woman, 
the  wife  of  a  missionary  named  Green,  created 
great    scandal    among    the    native    women    by 
speaking    of   some    Cape    gooseberries    as    "too 
green";     she   ought   to   have   said    "not   ripe." 
And    a   native  woman   could   not  repeat  "  Thy 
kingdom  come,"  because  the  word  for  "  come  " 
formed  part  of  her  husband's  name.     There  are 
no  women  talkers  or  authors  among  the  Kaffirs, 
for  the  men  have  taken  care  that  they  shall  have 
no  words  left  to  express  their  sentiments.     Among 
the  Ainu,  for  a  woman  to  mention  her  husband's 
name  is  deemed  equal  to  kilUng  him;    for  such, 
the    sorcerer    lies    in    wait.     The    husband    will 
address  his  wife  as  "  female  doer  of  the  hearth," 
and  when  he  speaks  of  her,  she  is  "my  person 
at  the  lower  side  of  the  hearth."  ^     In  the  second 
part  of  the  third  edition  of  The  Golden  Bough, 
wherein   "  Taboo   and  the   perils   of  the   Soul " 
is  exhaustively  treated,  a  cogent  example  of  the 
interdict  on  the  resembUng  name  is  given.     "  If 
my   father   is   called   Njara   (horse)    I   may   not 
speak  of  him  by  name ;    but  in  speaking  of  the 
animal  I  am  free  to  use  that  word.     But  if  my 
father-in-law  is  called  Njara,  the  case  is  different, 

1  Kaffir  Folk-lore,  p.  58. 

8  Ainu  and  their  Folk-lore,  p.  250,  Rev.  J.  Batchelor, 


MANA   IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS      57 

for  then  not  only  may  I  not  refer  to  him  by 
name,  but  I  may  not  even  call  a  horse  a  horse; 
in  speaking  of  the  animal  I  must  use  some  other 
word."  ^  Such  subtle  workings  of  the  barbaric 
mind  bring  home  the  force  of  what  Mary  Kings- 
ley — ^^\^ho  had  done  her  utmost  to  fathom  that 
mind — says  about  the  difficulty  of  "  thinking 
black." 

The  Hindu  wife  is  never,  under  any  circum- 
stances, to  mention  her  husband's  name,  so  she 
calls  him  ''  He,"  "  The  Master,"  "  Swamy,"  etc. 
"  A  Singhalese  woman  will  not  speak  to  or  refer 
to  her  husband  by  name.  She  always  speaks 
of  him  as  '  the  father  of  my  child,'  or  '  the 
father  of  Podi  Sinho,'  or  simply  as  '  He.'  "  ^ 
Coming  home  for  examples,  an  old-fashioned 
Midland  cottager's  wife  rarely  speaks  of  her 
husband  by  name,  the  pronoun  "he,"  supple- 
mented by  "  my  man,"  or  "  my  master,"  is 
sufficient  distinction.  Gregor  says  that  "  in 
Buckie  there  are  certain  family  names  that 
fishermen  will  not  pronounce,"  the  folk  in  the 
village  of  Coull  speaking  of  "  spitting  out  the 
bad  name."  If  such  a  name  be  mentioned  in 
their  hearing,  they  spit,  or,  in  the  vernacular, 
"  chiff,"  and  the  man  who  bears  the  dreaded 
name  is  called  a  "  chifferoot."     When  occasion 

1  p.  340. 

»  The  Village  in  the  Jungle,  p.  38,  Jj.  S.  Wpolf, 


58  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

to  speak  of  him  arises,  a  circumlocutory  phrase 
is  used,  as  "  The  man  it  diz  so  in  so,"  or  "  The 
laad  it  hves  at  such  and  such  a  place."  ^  As 
further  showing  how  barbaric  ideas  persist  in 
the  heart  of  civilization,  there  is  an  overwhelming 
feeling  against  hiring  men  bearing  the  reprobated 
names  as  hands  for  the  boats  in  the  herring 
fishing  season,  and  when  they  have  been  hired 
before  their  names  were  known,  their  wages 
have  been  refused  if  the  season  has  been  a 
failure.  "  Ye  hinna  hid  sic  a  fishin'  this  year 
is  ye  hid  the  last,"  said  a  woman  to  the  daughter 
of  a  famous  fisher.  "  Na,  na,  faht  wye  cud  we  ? 
We  wiz  in  a  chifferoot's  'oose,  we  cudnae  hae  a 
fushin'."  In  some  of  the  villages  on  the  east 
coast  of  Aberdeenshire  it  was  accounted  unlucky 
to  meet  anyone  of  the  name  of  Wliyte  when 
going  to  sea,  lives  would  be  lost,  or  the  catch 
of  fish  would  be  poor.  In  one  of  the  villages, 
which  I  do  not  name  for  obvious  reasons,  there 
lives  an  old  woman  who  has  the  reputation  of 
being  "  nae  canny."  Should  a  fisherman  meet 
her  on  his  way  to  the  harboui'  he  would  not 
proceed  to  sea  that  day.  It  is  unlucky  at  any 
time  to  meet  a  barefooted  woman,  but  the  old 
lady  in  question  is  in  such  bad  odour  that  her 
name  is  never  mentioned  by  the  villagers,  and 
the  ban  is  extended  to  several  families  who  bear 
1  Folk-lore  in  the  N.E.  of  Scotland,  p.  200. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE  THINGS      59 

the  same  name.  Should  one  of  the  name  belong 
to  a  crew,  he  is  referred  to  as  "the  mannie," 
and  when  he  has  to  be  addressed  direct,  the  tee- 
name  is  always  used.  At  Cullen,  Portknockie, 
Findoehtic,  Portessie,  Buckie  and  Port-gordon 
in  the  B.F.  district  and  other  places  along  the 
sliores  of  the  Moray  Firth,  there  are  surnames 
which,  if  only  breathed  by  the  boy,  would  bring 
disaster  on  a  crew.^  It  is  a  far  cry  from  this 
to  Tacitus,  but  it  recalls  his  narrative  of  the 
dedication  of  the  rebuilt  shrine  on  the  Capitol 
wherein  he  says  that  only  soldiers  bearing  lucky 
names  (fausta  nomina)  were  admitted  within  the 
precincts.^ 

Long  before  any  systematic  inquiry  into  social 
usages  was  set  afoot,  and  before  any  importance 
was  attached  to  folk-tale  and  folk-wont  as 
possibly  holding  primitive  ideas  in  solution,  the 
taboo-incident  was  familiar  in  stories  of  which 
"  Cupid  and  Psyche,"  and  the  more  popular 
"  Beauty  and  the  Beast,"  are  types.  The  man 
and  woman  must  not  see  each  other,  or  call  each 
other  by  name.  But  the  prohibition  is  broken; 
curiosity,  in  revolt,  from  Eden  onwards,  against 
restraint,  disobeys,  and  the  unlucky  wax  drops 
on  the  cheek  of  the  fair  one,  who  thenceforth 
disappears.  From  Timbuctoo  and  North  America, 
from  Australia  and  Polynesia,  and  from  places 
1  Bon  Accord,  1907.  ^  History,  IV.  53. 


60  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

much  nearer  home  than  these,  travellers  have 
collected  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the  custom 
on  which  the  fate  of  many  a  wedded  pair  in  fact 
and  fiction  has  hinged.  Herodotus  gives  us  a 
gossipy  story  on  this  matter,  which  is  not  of 
less  value  because  he  knew  not  its  significance.^ 
He  says  that  some  of  the  old  Ionian  colonists 
brought  no  women  with  them,  but  took  wives 
of  the  women  of  the  Carians,  whose  fathers  they 
had  slain.  Therefore  the  women,  imposing  oaths 
on  one  another,  made  a  law  to  themselves,  and 
handed  it  down  to  their  daughters,  that  they 
should  never  sit  at  meat  with  their  husbands, 
and  that  none  should  call  her  husband  by  name. 
Disregarding  the  explanation  of  the  formulating 
of  social  codes  by  women  bereaved  of  husbands 
and  lovers,  which  Herodotus,  assuming  this  to 
be  an  isolated  case,  appears  to  suggest,  we  find 
in  the  reference  to  the  abducting  of  the  Carians 
an  illustration  of  the  ancient  practice  of  obtain- 
ing wives  by  forcible  capture,  and  the  conse- 
quent involuntary  mingling  of  people  of  alien 
race  and  speech.  That,  however,  carries  us 
but  a  little,  if  any,  way  towards  explanation  of 
avoidance-customs.  In  an  important  paper  on 
the  "  Development  of  Institutions  applied  to 
Marriage    and    Descent,"  ^   the    late    Sir    E.    B. 

1  Bk.  I.  146. 

3  Journal  of  Anthrop.  Institute,  Vol.  XVIII.  pp.  345-69, 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS      61 

Tylor  formulated  an  ingenious  method,  the  pur- 
suit of  which  may  help  us  towards  a  solution. 
He  shows  that  the  custom  cannot  arise  from 
local  idiosyncrasies,  because  in  cataloguing  some 
three  hundred  and  fifty  peoples,  he  finds  it  in 
vogue  among  sixty-six  peoples  widely  distributed 
over  the  globe ;  that  is,  he  finds  forty-five  ex- 
amples of  avoidance  between  the  husband  and 
his  wife's  relations ;  thirteen  examples  between 
the  wife  and  her  husband's  relations;  and  eight 
examples  of  mutual  avoidance.  The  schedules 
also  show  a  relation  between  the  avoidance- 
customs  and  "  the  customs  of  the  world  as  to 
residence  after  marriage."  Among  the  three 
hundred  and  fifty  peoples  the  husband  goes  to 
live  with  his  wife's  family  in  sixty-five  instances, 
while  there  are  one  hmidred  and  forty-one  cases 
in  which  the  wife  takes  up  her  abode  with  her 
husband's  family.  Thus  there  is  a  well-marked 
preponderance  indicating  that  ceremonial  avoid- 
ance by  the  husband  is  in  some  way  connected 
with  his  living  with  his  wife's  family,  and  vice 
versa  as  to  the  wife  and  the  husband's  family. 
The  reason  of  this  connection  "  readily  presents 
itself,  inasmuch  as  the  ceremony  of  not  speaking 
to  and  pretending  not  to  see  some  well-known 
person  close  by,  is  familiar  enough  to  ourselves 
in  the  social  rite  which  we  call  '  cutting.'  This 
indeed  with  us  implies  aversion,  and  the  implica- 


62  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

tion  comes  out  even  more  strongly  in  objection 
to  utter  the  name  ('  we  never  mention  her,'  as 
the  song  has  it)."  It  is  different,  however,  in 
the  barbaric  custom,  for  here  the  husband  is 
none  the  less  on  friendly  terms  with  his  wife's 
people  because  they  may  not  take  any  notice 
of  one  another.  As  the  husband  has  intruded 
himself  among  a  family  which  is  not  his  own, 
and  into  a  house  where  he  has  no  right,  it  seems 
not  difficult  to  understand  their  marking  the 
difference  between  him  and  themselves,  by  treat- 
ing him  formally  as  a  stranger.  John  Tanner, 
the  adopted  Ojibwa,  describes  his  being  taken 
by  a  friendly  Assineboin  into  his  lodge,  and 
seeing  how  at  his  companion's  entry  the  old 
father-  and  mother-in-law  covered  up  their  heads 
in  their  blankets  till  their  son-in-law  got  into 
the  compartment  reserved  for  him,  where  his 
wife  brought  him  his  food.  So  like  is  the  work- 
ing of  the  human  mind  in  all  stages  of  civiliza- 
tion that  our  own  language  conveys  in  a  familiar 
idiom  the  train  of  thought  which  governed  the 
behaviour  of  the  parents  of  the  Assineboin's 
wife.  We  have  only  to  say  that  they  do  not 
recognize  their  son-in-law,  and  we  shall  have  con- 
densed the  whole  proceeding  into  a  single  word. 
A  seemingly  allied  custom  is  that  of  naming  the 
father  after  the  child,  this  being  found  among 
peoples    practising   avoidance-customs,    where   a 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS      63 

status  is  given  to  the  husband  only  on  the  birth 
of  the  first  child.  The  naming  of  him  as  father 
of  "  So-and-so "  is  a  recognition  of  paternity 
and  also  a  recognition  of  liim  by  the  wife's  kins- 
folk. To  refer  to  these,  to  us,  strange  customs 
is  to  bring  home  the  salutary  fact  that  perchance 
we  may  never  get  at  the  back  of  many  a  seeming 
vagary  of  social  life. 

Magic  works  in  divers  ways  past  finding  out  : 
the  significance  of  much  of  it  is  still  in  the  melting- 
pot  and  likely  to  remain  there.  But  there  is 
temptation  to  theorize  about  the  origin  of  the 
customs  cited  above,  notably  that  of  mother- 
in-law  avoidance.  This  may  be  due  to  a  feeling 
of  relationship  begotten  by  unions  in  which  she 
is  concerned,  although  only  relatively;  a  feeling 
which  may  have  survived  in,  and  explains,  the 
ancient  prohibition  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
against  the  marriages  of  godfathers  and  god- 
mothers because  a  spiritual  relationship  between 
them  is  held  to  be  established  by  the  sponsorial 
act.i     Human  institutions,  like  man  himself,  are 

^  "  The  Emperor  Justinian  passed  a  law  forbidding  any 
man  to  marry  a  woman  for  whom  he  had  stood  as  godfather 
in  baptism,  the  tie  of  the  godfather  and  godchild  being  so 
analogous  to  that  of  the  father  and  child  as  to  make  such 
a  marriage  appear  improper." — Hist,  of  Human  Marriage, 
p.  331,  Dr.  Westermarck.  "  In  Greenland  it  is  believed  that 
there  is  a  spiritual  affinity  between  two  people  of  the  same 
name." — Eskimo  Life,  p.  230,  Dr.  F.  Nansen. 


64  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

of  vast  antiquity,  and  to  project  ourselves  into 
the  conditions  under  which  some  of  them  arose 
is  not  possible. 

{e)  Mana  in  Birth  and  Baptismal  Names. 

Throughout  all  grades  of  culture  name -giving 
at  birth  is  regarded  as  a  serious  matter;  as  a 
ceremony  which  brooks  no  delay.  The  name 
being  a  mana-chojged  entity,  the  unnamed  among 
savage  peoples  is  in  as  bad  a  case  as  the  unbaptized 
child  in  Christian  countries. 

The  custom  of  name -giving  from  some  event 
has  frequent  reference  in  the  Old  Testament,  as, 
for  example,  in  Genesis  xxx.  11,  where  Leah's 
maid  gives  birth  to  a  son ;  "  And  she  said,  A 
troop  Cometh,  and  she  called  his  name  Gad." 
So  Rachel,  dying  in  childbed,  calls  the  babe 
Ben-oni,  "  son  of  sorrow,"  but  the  father  changes 
his  name  to  Ben-jamin,  "  son  of  the  right  hand." 

The  Nez  Perces  obtain  their  names  in  several 
ways,  one  of  the  more  curious  being  the  sending 
of  a  child  in  Ms  tenth  or  twelfth  year  to  the 
mountains,  where  he  fasts  and  watches  for 
something  to  appear  to  him  in  a  dream  and  give 
him  a  name.  On  the  success  or  failure  of  the 
vision  which  the  empty  stomach  is  designed  to 
secure,  his  fortunes  are  believed  to  depend.  No 
one  questions  him  on  his  return,  the  matter  being 
regarded  as  sacred,  and  only  years  hence,  when 
he  may  have  done  something  to  be  proud  of, 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE  THINGS      65 

will  he  reveal  his  name  to  trusted  friends.  Of 
course,  throughout  his  life  he  is  known  to  his 
fellow-tribesmen  by  some  nickname.^ 

Among  the  Red  Indians  the  giving  of  names 
to  children  is  a  solemn  matter,  and  one  in  which 
the  medicine-man  should  always  be  consulted. 
The  Plains  Tribes  named  their  children  at  the 
moment  of  piercing  their  ears,  which  should 
occur  at  the  first  sun-dance  after  their  birth,  or, 
rather,  as  near  their  first  year  as  possible  .^  At 
the  birth  of  every  Singhalese  baby  its  horoscope 
is  cast  by  an  astrologer,  and  so  highly  is  the 
document  esteemed,  that  even  in  the  hour  of 
death  more  reliance  is  placed  upon  it  than  on 
the  symptoms  of  the  patient.  Again,  the  as- 
trologer is  called  in  to  preside  at  the  baby's 
"  rice-feast,"  when  some  grains  of  rice  are  first 
placed  in  its  mouth.  He  selects  for  the  little 
one  a  name  which  is  compounded  from  the  name 
of  the  ruling  planet  of  that  moment.  This  name 
he  tells  only  to  the  father,  who  whispers  it  low 
in  the  baby's  ear ;  no  one  else  must  know  it,  and, 
like  the  Chinese  "infantile  name,"  this  "rice- 
name  "  is  never  used  lest  sorcerers  should  hear  it 
and   thus    be    able   to    work   malignant   spells.^ 

*  American  Society  Folk-lore  Journal,  Vol.  IV.  p.  329. 

2  Bourke,  p.  461. 

3  Two  Happy  Years  in  Ceylon,  Vol.  I.  pp.  278,  279,  Miss 
Gordon  Cumming. 


66  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

Among  the  Mordvins  of  the  Caucasus  and  other 
peoples,  accident  or  whim  determine  the  child's 
name;  among  the  Tshi-speaking  tribes  of  West 
Africa  this  is  given  at  the  moment  of  birth  and 
derived  from  the  day  of  the  week  when  that 
event  happens.  After  the  child  is  washed,  charms 
are  bound  round  it  to  avert  evil.^  Throughout 
Australia  the  custom  of  deriving  the  name  from 
some  slight  circumstance  prevails.  As  among 
the  nomadic  Arabs  and  Kaffirs,  a  sign  is  looked 
for,  and  the  appearance,  e.g.,  of  a  kangaroo  or 
an  emu  at  the  time  of  birth,  or  the  occurrence  of 
that  event  near  some  particular  spot,  say  under 
the  shelter  of  a  tree,  decides  the  infant's  name. 
In  Australia  a  girl  born  under  a  dheal  tree  is 
called  Dheala  :  any  incident  happening  at  the 
time  of  birth  may  determine  what  the  child's 
name  shall  be.  Mrs.  Langloh  Parker  says  that 
two  of  her  black  maids  were  called  lizards  because 
those  animals  were  on  the  spot  at  the  moment  of 
their  birth.  The  birth-name  is  not  the  one  by 
which  a  man  will  be  known  in  after  life.  Another 
is  given  him  on  his  initiation  to  membership  in 
the  tribe ;  and  if  his  career  should  be  marked  by 
any  striking  event,  he  will  then  receive  a  fitting 
designation,  and  his  old  name  will  be  perhaps 
forgotten.  Or,  if  he  has  had  conferred  on  him, 
on  arriving  at  manhood,  a  name  similar  to  that 
1  Ellis,  p.  332. 


MANA  IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      67 

of  anyone  who  dies,  it  is  changed  by  his  tribe  .^ 
With  this  may  be  compared  the  Ainu  abstention 
from  giving  the  name  of  either  parent  to  the 
child,  because,  when  they  are  dead,  they  are  not 
to  be  mentioned  without  tears,  and  also  the  feel- 
ing in  the  North  of  England  against  perpetuating 
a  favourite  baptismal  name  when  death  has 
snatched  away  its  first  bearer.^  The  clan  of  the 
Manlii  at  Rome  avoided  giving  the  name  of 
Marcus  to  any  son  born  in  the  clan.  We  may 
infer  from  this  that  the  possession  of  the  name 
was  once  thought  to  be  bound  up  with  evil  con- 
sequences, and  this  notwithstanding  the  legend 
that  the  name -avoidance  was  due  to  Marcus 
Manlius — who  proved  himself  the  saviour  of  the 
city  when  the  clamouring  of  geese  aroused  the 
garrison  of  the  Capitol  to  a  scaling  attack  by  the 
Gauls — being  afterwards  put  to  death  for  plotting 
to  found  a  monarchy.^ 

Savage  and  civilized  custom  alike  bear  witness 
to  the  importance  attached  to  lustration  at  birth  ; 
sometimes  without  name -giving  at  the  time. 
Water  is  mana,  alike  to  medicine-man  and  priest. 
"  From  my  baptism  do  I  compute  or  calculate 
my  nativity,"  *  said  Sir  Thomas  Browne. 

^  Brough  Smyth,  Vol.  I.  p.  xxi. 

2  Folk-lore  of  the  Northern  Counties,  p.  14,  W.  Henderson. 

^  Worship  of  the  Romans,  p.  249,  F.  Grainger. 

*  Religio  Medici,  Works,  Vol.  II.  p.  390. 


68  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

The  Maoris  had  an  interesting  baptismal  or 
lustration  ceremony,  during  which  the  priest 
repeated  a  long  list  of  ancestral  names.  When 
the  child  sneezed,  the  name  which  was  then  being 
uttered  was  chosen,  and  the  priest,  as  he  pro- 
nounced it,  sprinkled  the  child  with  a  small 
branch  "  of  the  karamu  which  was  stuck  upright 
in  the  water."  ^ 

Among  the  Yoruba  tribes  of  West  Africa  the 
medicine-man  is  called  in  to  find  out  from  the 
gods  which  ancestor  means  to  dwell  in  the  child 
so  that  it  may  be  called  by  his  name.  Then  its 
face  is  sprinkled  with  water  from  a  vessel  placed 
under  a  sacred  tree.  The  same  kind  of  ritual  is 
general  throughout  West  Africa.  In  the  place 
of  using  water,  the  Zuni  sorcerer  breathes  on  a 
wand,  which  he  extends  towards  the  child's  mouth 
as  he  receives  his  name.^ 

"  The  ancients,"  says  Aubrey,  "  had  a  solemne 
time  of  giving  names, — the  equivalent  to  our 
christening."  ^  Barbaric,  Pagan,  and  Christian 
folk-lore  is  full  of  examples  of  the  importance  of 
naming  and  other  birth-ceremonies,  in  the  belief 
that  the  child's  life  is  at  the  mercy  of  evil  spirits 
watching  the  chance  of  casting  spells  upon  it,  of 
demons   covetous   to   possess   it,    and   of  fairies 

1  Te  Ika  a  Maui,  p.  185,  R.  Taylor. 

2  Hastings  Ency.  R.  and  E.,  Vol.  II.  p.  369. 

^  Remaines  of  Gentilisme  and  Judaisme,  p.  40. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE  THINGS      69 

eager  to  steal  it  and  leave  a  "  changeling  "  in  its 
place . 

In  the  fairy  tales  of  Christian  P^urope  the  period 
of  danger  terminated  at  baptism,  until  which 
time  certain  precautions,  such  as  burning  a  light 
in  the  chamber,  must  be  observed.  In  ancient 
Italy  the  danger  ended  when  the  child  received 
its  name.  The  eagerness  of  the  parents  to  have 
their  children  christened  gave  unlimited  power 
to  ministers;  but  this  parental  anxiety  has 
proceeded  less  from  piety  than  from  superstition. 
Till  it  was  baptized  the  baby  was  a  thing  without 
a  name;  and  without  a  name  it  would  possibly 
not  be  saved ;  for  how  could  it,  in  the  resurrec- 
tion, be  identified  ?  It  might  be  carried  off  by 
fairies  and  a  changehng  substituted  for  it ;  and 
till  it  was  christened  it  was  subject  also  to  the 
mahgn  power  of  the  evil  eye,  to  avert  which  each 
visitor  was  presented  with  the  propitiatory  gift 
of  a  piece  of  bread. ^ 

(Till  recently  in  Cornwall  a  prayer-book  was 
put  under  a  child's  pillow  as  a  charm  to  keep 
away  the  pixies,  and  in  Cumberland  the  child 
was  put  on  a  Bible  for  the  same  purpose.)  ^ 

In  Ireland  the  belief  in  changehngs  is  as  strong 

*  Social  Life  of  Scotland  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  Vol.  II. 
p.  33,  H.  G.  Graham.  lb.,  "  I  wat  well,  it's  a  very  uncanny 
thing  to  keep  about  a  house  a  body  wanting  a  name." 
Dugald  Graham's  Chapbook,  Jockey  and  Maggy. 

^  Rustic  Speech  and  Folk-lore,  p.  207,  E.  M.  Wright. 


70  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

as  it  was  in  pre-Christian  times;   both  there  and 
in   Scotland  the  child  is  carefully  watched  till 
the   rite    of   baptism   is    performed,    fishermen's 
nets  being  sometimes  spread  over  the  cm-tain- 
openings  to  prevent  the  infant  being  carried  off; 
while  in  West  Sussex  it  is  considered  unlucky  to 
divulge  a  child's  intended  name  before  baptism .^ 
This   reminds  us  of  the  incident  in  the   Moray 
story,   "  Nicht  Nought  Nothing,"  in  which  the 
queen  would  not  christen  the  bairn  till  the  king 
came  back,  saying,  we  will  just  call  him  Nicht 
Nought  Nothing  until  his  father  comes  home.^ 
Brand  says  that  among  Danish  women  precaution 
against    evil   spirits   took  the    form   of   putting 
garlic,  bread,  salt,  or  some  steel  instrument,  as 
amulets  about  the  house  before  laying  the  new- 
born babe  in  the  cradle.     Henderson  ^  says  that 
in  Scotland  "  the  little  one's  safeguard  is  held  to 
lie   in  the   placing   of  some   article   of  clothing 
belonging  to  the  father  near  the  cradle,"  while 
in  South  China  a  pair  of  the  father's  trousers  are 
put  near  the  bedstead,  and  a  word-charm  pinned 
to  them,  so  that  all  evil  influences  may  pass  into 
them  instead  of  harming  the  babe,*  and  in  New 
Britain  a  charm  is  always  hung  in  the  house  to 

1  Folk-lore  ofN.E.  Scotlmid,  p.  11,  W.  Gregor. 

2  Custom  and  Myih,lp.  89,  Andrew  Lang. 

3  p.  14. 

*  Folk-lore  of  China,  p,  13,  N.  B.  Denys. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      71 

secure  the  child  from  Hke  peril. ^  In  Ruthenia 
it  is  believed  that  if  a  wizard  knows  a  man's 
baptismal  name  he  can  transform  him  by  a  mere 
effort  of  will.  Parkyns  says  that  it  is  the  custom 
in  Abyssinia  "  to  conceal  the  real  name  by  which 
a  person  is  baptized,  and  to  call  him  only  by 
some  sort  of  nickname  which  his  mother  gives 
him  on  leaving  the  church.  The  baptismal 
names  in  Abyssinia  are  those  of  saints,  such  as 
Son  of  St.  George,  Slave  of  the  Virgin,  Daughter 
of  Moses,  etc.  Those  given  by  the  mother  are 
generally  expressive  of  maternal  vanity  regarding 
the  appearance  or  anticipated  merits  of  the  child. 
The  reason  for  the  concealment  of  the  Christian 
name  is  that  the  Bouda  or  wizard  cannot  harm  a 
person  whose  real  name  he  does  not  know."  ^ 
Should  he,  however,  have  learned  the  true  name 
of  his  victim,  he  adopts  a  method  which  comes 
under  the  head  of  sympathetic  magic.  "  He 
takes  a  particular  kind  of  straw,  and,  muttering 
something  over  it,  bends  it  into  a  circle,  and 
places  it  under  a  stone.  The  person  thus  doomed 
is  taken  ill  at  the  very  moment  of  the  bending 
of  the  straw,  and  should  it  by  accident  snap  under 
the  operation,  the  result  of  the  attack  will  be  the 
death  of  the  patient."  Parkyns  adds  that  in 
Abyssinia   all   blacksmiths   are   looked   upon   as 

*  Journal  of  Anthrop,  Institute,  p.  293  (1889). 
^  Life  in  Abyssinia,  Vol.  II.  p.  145. 


72  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

Boudas.  Among  the  many  characters  in  which 
the  devil  appears  is  that  of  Wayland  the  Smith, 
the  northern  Vulcan,  but  perhaps  the  repute 
attaching  to  the  Boudas  has  no  connection  with 
that  conception,  and  may  be  an  example  of  the 
barbaric  belief  in  the  power  of  iron  which,  among 
many  peoples,  was  a  charm  against  black  magic. ^ 
They  are  credited  with  the  faculty  of  being  able 
to  turn  themselves  into  hyenas  and  other  wild 
beasts,  so  that  few  people  will  venture  to  molest 
or  offend  a  blacksmith.  "  In  all  church  services 
in  Abyssinia,  particularly  in  prayers  for  the  dead, 
the  baptismal  name  must  be  used.  How  they 
manage  to  hide  it  I  did  not  learn;  possibly  by 
confiding  it  only  to  the  priest."  ^  Mr.  Theodore 
Bent  says  that  it  is  a  custom  in  the  Cyclades  to 
call  a  child  Iron  or  Dragon  or  some  other  such 
name  before  christening  takes  place,  the  object 
being  to  frighten  away  the  evil  spirits.  Travel- 
ling eastwards,  we  find  the  Hindu  belief  that  when 
a  child  is  born  an  invisible  spirit  is  born  with  it, 
and  unless  the  mother  keeps  one  breast  tied  up 
for  forty  days,  while  she  feeds  the  child  with  the 
other  (in  which  case  the  spirit  dies  of  hunger) 

^  On  the  taboo  on  iron,  see  Religious  Experience  of  the 
Roman  People,  pp.  32,  35,  45,  W.  Warde  Fowler;  G.B.\ 
"Taboo,"  pp.  176,  225;   as  a  charm,  ib.,  pp.  2S2  seq. 

2  Good  Words,  p.  607  (1868),  "  An  Artist's  Jottings  in 
Abyssinia,"  W.  Simpson. 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE    THINGS      73 

the  child  grows  up  with  the  endowment  of  the 
evil  eye.^ 

Sometimes  two  names  are  given  at  birth,  one 
secret  and  used  only  for  ceremonial  purposes, 
and  the  other  for  ordinary  use.  The  witch,  if 
she  learns  the  real  name,  can  work  her  evil  charms 
through  it.  Hence  arises  the  use  of  many  con- 
tractions and  perversions  of  the  real  name,  and 
many  of  the  nicknames  which  are  generally  given 
to  children. 2  Among  the  Algonquin  tribes 
children  are  usually  named  by  the  old  woman  of 
the  family,  often  with  reference  to  some  dream; 
but  this  real  name  is  kept  mysteriously  secret, 
and  what  commonly  passes  for  it  is  a  mere  nick- 
name, such  as  "Little  Fox  "  or  "  Red  Head."  » 
Schoolcraft  says  that  the  true  name  of  the  famous 
Pocahontas,  "  La  Belle  Sauvage,"  whose  plead- 
ings saved  the  life  of  the  heroic  Virginian  leader, 
Captain  John  Smith,  was  Matokes.  "This  was 
concealed  from  the  EngUsh  in  a  superstitious 
fear  of  hurt  by  them  if  her  name  was  known." 

It  is  well  known  that  in  Roman  Catholic 
countries  the  name-day  wholly  supersedes  the 
birthday  in  importance;  and,  as  the  foregoing 
examples  testify,  the  significance  attached  to 
the  name  brings  into  play  a  number  of  causes 

1  Folk-lore  ofN.W.  India,  Vol.  II.  p.  2,  W.  Crooke. 

2  lb.,  Vol.  II.  p.  5. 

3  Early  Hist,  of  Mankind,  p.  142. 


74  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

operating  in  the  selection;  causes  grouped  round 
belief  in  omens,  and  in  meanings  to  be  attached 
to  certain  events,  of  which  astrology  professes  to 
be  a  world-wide  interpreter. 

The  majority  of  Christendom  still  attaches 
enormous  and  vital  importance  to  infant  baptism,^ 

^  "  How  can  your  boy  sing  acceptable  hymns  to  God  in 
His  Church  if  he  has  not  been  baptized  ?  "  asked  the  vicar 
of  a  parish  in  Suffolk  when  the  boy's  mother  expressed  a 
wish  that  he  should  join  the  choir. 

"  The  eight-year-old  son  of  a  collier  had  been  drowned 
in  the  Neath  Canal.  Out  of  sympathy  with  the  parents 
there  was  a  large  attendance  at  the  funeral,  among  the 
mourners  being  a  hundred  of  his  schoolfellows.  The  Vicar 
used  the  abbreviated  service  for  the  Excommunicated  and 
suicides  because  the  child  was  unbaptized,  and  refused  to 
allow  the  child  mourners  to  sing.  By  such  methods  has 
the  Church  endeared  itself  to  the  hearts  of  the  Welsh  people." 
—Truth,  July  29,  1914-. 

"  The  Church  Congress  does  not  often  find  a  better  theme 
for  its  discussions  than  that  so  thoughtfully  provided  by 
the  Rev.  T.  S.  Curteis,  of  Sevenoaks.  This  ornament  of 
the  Church  of  England  has  added  a  new  terror  to  death 
and  a  new  agony  to  motherhood.  He  refused  to  allow  a 
child  to  be  buried  in  the  same  coffin  as  its  mother,  on  the 
ground  that  it  had  not  been  baptized.  It  was  therefore 
necessary  to  make  a  separate  coffin  for  the  dead  babe. 
After  the  burial  service  had  been  read  over  the  dead  mother, 
the  body  of  the  little  infant  was  placed  in  the  grave,  to  use 
the  outraged  father's  bitter  phrase,  '  just  as  though  it  had 
been  the  body  of  a  dog.'  The  doctrine  which  bans  the 
unbaptized  infant  is  a  devilish  doctrine.  It  is  not  the 
doctrine  of  Him  who  said  :  '  Suffer  the  little  children  to 
come  unto  Me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  king- 
dom of  God.'  The  Church  which  disobeys  that  mandate 
is  not  the  Church  of  Christ."— *Stor,  October  5,  1905. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      75 

an  importance  which  is  shared,  for  less  precise 
reasons,  by  rustics,  who  believe  that  "  children 
never  thrive  till  they're  christened,"  and  that 
the  night  air  thrills  to  the  cry  of  the  homeless 
souls  of  the  unbaptized.  That  superstitions  of 
this  order  should  be  rampant  among  the  un- 
lettered evidences  their  pagan  origin  rather  than 
the  infiltration  of  sacerdotal  theories  of  baptismal 
regeneration  and  of  the  doom  of  the  unchristened. 
But  between  the  believers  in  these  theories,  and 
those  who  see  in  the  ritual  of  the  higher  religions 
the  persistence  of  barbaric  ideas,  there  will  be 
agreement  when  the  poles  meet  the  equator. 
The  explanation  which  the  evolutionist  has  to 
give  falls  into  line  with  what  is  known  and 
demonstrated  about  the  arrest  of  human  develop- 
ment by  the  innate  conservatism  aroused  when 
doubt  disturbs  the  settled  order  of  things. 
"  Creeds,"  as  Sir  Leslie  Stephen  said,  "  only 
lived  till  they  were  found  out,"  whereas  rites 
survive  all  dogmas.  Like  their  dispensers,  they 
may  change  their  name,  but  not  their  nature,  and 
in  the  ceremonies  of  civil  and  religious  society 
we  find  no  inventions,  only  survivals  more  or 
less  elaborated.  The  low  intellectual  environ- 
ment of  man's  barbaric  past  was  constant  in  his 
history  for  thousands  of  years,  and  his  adaptation 
thereto  was  complete.  The  intrusion  of  the 
scientific    method    in    its    apph cation   to    man's 


76  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

whole  nature  disturbed  that  equiHbrium.  But 
this,  as  yet,  only  within  the  narrow  area  of  the 
highest  culture.  Like  the  lower  life-forms  that 
constitute  the  teeming  majority  of  organisms, 
and  that  have  undergone  little,  if  any,  change, 
during  millions  of  years,  the  vaster  number  of 
mankind  have  remained  but  slightly,  if  at  all, 
modified.  The  keynote  of  evolution  is  adapta- 
tion, not  continuous  development,  and  this  is 
illustrated,  both  physically  and  mentally,  by 
man.  Therefore,  the  superstitions  that  still 
dominate  human  life,  even  in  so-called  civiHzed 
centres  and  "  high  places,"  are  no  stumbling- 
blocks  to  the  student  of  history.  He  accounts 
for  their  persistence,  and  the  road  of  inquiry  is 
cleared.  Man  being  a  unit,  not  a  duality,  thought 
and  feeling  are,  in  the  last  resort,  in  harmony,  as 
are  the  elements  that  make  up  the  universe  which 
includes  him.  But  the  exercise  of  feeling  has 
been  active  from  the  beginning  of  his  history, 
while  thought,  speaking  comparatively,  has  but 
recently  had  free  play.  So  far  as  its  influence 
on  the  modern  world  goes,  and  this  with  long 
periods  of  arrest  between,  we  may  say  that  it 
began,  at  least  in  the  domain  of  scientific  natural- 
ism, with  the  Ionian  philosophers  twenty-four 
centuries  ago.  And  these  are  but  as  a  day  in 
the  passage  of  prehistoric  ages.  In  other  words, 
man  wondered  long  chiliads  before  he  reasoned. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      77 

because   feeling  travels   along  the   line   of  least 

resistance,    while   thought,    or   the    challenge    by 

inquiry,  with  its  assumption  that  there  may  be 

two   sides   to   a   question,    must   pursue   a   path 

obstructed    by    the    dominance    of    taboo    and 

custom,  by  the  force  of  imitation,  and  by  the 

strength  of  prejudice,  passion,  and  fear.     "  It  is 

not  error,"  Turgot  wrote,  in  a  saying  that  every 

champion   of  a   new  idea  should   have   ever  in 

letters  of  flame  before  his  eyes,  "  which  opposes 

the  progress  of  truth ;    it  is  indolence,  obstinacy, 

the   spirit    of  routine,    everything   that   favours 

inaction."  ^ 

In   these   causes   lies   the   explanation   of  the 

persistence  of  the  primitive ;    and  of  the  general 

conservatism  of  human  nature,  whose  primitive 

bases  are  the  unchanged  instincts  and  passions. 

"  The  human  spirit  has  ever  remained  the  same."  ^ 

"  Born  into  life,  in  vain, 
Opinions,  those  or  these, 
Unalter'd  to  retain. 
The  obstinate  mind  decrees,"  ^ 

as  in  the  striking  illustration  cited  in  Heine's 
Travel- Pictures.  "  A  few  years  ago  Bullock  dug 
up  an  ancient  stone  idol  in  Mexico,  and  the  next 
day  he  found  that  it  had  been  crowned  during 

^  Miscellanies,  Vol.  II.  p.  77,  Viscount  Morley. 
2  "  Primitive   Man,"   p.   3,   Prof.   G.   Elliot   Smith,   Proc. 
Brit.  Acad.,  Vol.  VII. 

^  Empedocles  on  Etna,  Matthew  Arnold. 


78  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

the  night  with  flowers.  And  yet  the  Spaniard 
had  exterminated  the  old  Mexican  rehgion  with 
fire  and  sword,  and  for  three  centuries  had  been 
engaged  in  ploughing  and  harrowing  their  minds 
and  implanting  the  seed  of  Christianity."  ^ 

The  causes  of  error  and  delusion,  and  of  the 
spiritual  nightmares  of  olden  time,  being  made 
clear,  there  is  begotten  a  generous  sympathy 
with  that  which  empirical  notions  of  human 
nature  attributed  to  wilfulness  or  to  man's  fall 
from  a  high  estate.  For  superstitions  which 
are  the  outcome  of  ignorance  can  only  awaken 
pity.  Wliere  the  corrective  of  knowledge  is 
absent,  we  see  that  it  could  not  be  otherwise. 
And  thereby  we  learn  that  the  art  of  life  largely 
consists  in  that  control  of  the  emotions,  and  that 
diversion  of  them  into  wholesome  channels, 
which  the  intellect,  braced  with  the  latest  know- 
ledge and  with  freedom  in  the  application  of  it, 
can  alone  effect. 

These  remarks  have  direct  bearing  on  the 
inferences  to  be  drawn  from  the  examples 
gathered  from  barbaric  and  civilized  sources. 
For  those  examples  fail  in  their  intent  if  they  do 
not  indicate  the  working  of  the  law  of  continuity 
in  the  spiritual  as  in  the  material  sphere. 
Barbaric  birth  and  baptism  customs,  and  the 
importance  attached  to  the  Name  with  accom- 
panying invocations  and  other  ceremonies,  ex- 
^  English  translation  by  Francis  Storr,  p.  106. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      79 

plain  without  need  of  import  of  other  reasons, 
the  existence  of  similar  practices,  impelled  by 
similar  ideas,  in  civilized  society.  The  priest 
who  christens  the  child  "  in  the  Name  of  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,"— without  which 
invocation  the  rite  would  be  invalid — is  the  lineal 
descendant,  the  true  apostolic  successor,  of  the 
sorcerer  or  medicine-man.  He  may  deny  the 
spiritual  father  who  begat  him,  and  vaunt  his 
descent  from  St.  Peter. ^  But  the  first  Bishop  of 
Rome,  granting  that  title  to  the  apostle,  was 
himself  a  parvenu  compared  to  the  barbaric 
priest  who  uttered  his  incantations  on  the  hill 
now  crowned  by  the  Vatican. ^  The  story  of  the 
beginnings  of  his  order  in  a  prehistoric  past  is  a 
sealed  book  to  the  priest.  For,  in  East  and  West 
alike,  his  studies  have  run  between  the  narrow 
historical  lines  enclosing  only  such  material  as 
is  interpreted  to  support  the  preposterous  claims 
to  the  divine  origin  of  his  office  which  the  multi- 
tude have  neither  the  courage  to  challenge,  nor 

1  If  the  Christian  apostles,  St.  Peter  or  St.  Paul,  could 
return  to  the  Vatican,  they  might  possibly  inquire  the  name 
of  the  Deity  who  is  worshipped  with  such  mysterious  rites 
in  that  magnificent  temple. — Decline  and  Fall,  ch.  1.  p.  420, 
Gibbon  (Bury's  Edition,  1914). 

2  In  a  shrine  of  the  Great  Mother  of  the  Gods  on  the 
Vatican  hill  the  Plu-ygian  priests  celebrated  the  mysteries 
of  her  cult,  and  where  the  basilica  of  St.  Peter's  stands  the 
last  taurobolium — originally  a  rite  of  the  goddess — took 
place  at  the  end  of  the  fouilh  century.  The  sacred  sites 
of  the  world  have  so  remained  from  immemorial  times. 


80  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

the  knowledge  to  refute.  Did  those  studies  run 
on  the  broad  hnes  laid  down  by  anthropology, 
the  sacerdotal  upholders  of  those  claims  would 
be  compelled  to  abandon  their  pretensions  and 
thus  sign  the  death-warrant  of  their  caste.  The 
modern  sacerdotalist  represents  in  the  ceremony 
of  baptism  the  barbaric  belief  in  the  virtue  of 
water  as — in  some  way  equally  difficult  to  both 
medicine-man  and  priest  to  define — a  vehicle  of 
supernatural  efficacy.  It  has  mana.  Chrisma- 
tories  and  fonts  were  ordered  to  be  kept  locked 
lest  the  contents  should  be  stolen  for  magical 
purposes.  Cornwall  supplied  numerous  examples 
of  this  custom.^  In  the  oldest  fragment  of 
Hebrew  song  the  stream  is  addressed  as  a  living 
being, ^  and  the  high  authority  of  the  late  Professor 
Robertson  Smith  may  be  cited  for  the  state- 
ment that  the  Semitic  peoples,  to  whom  water, 
especially  flowing  water,  was  the  deepest  object 
of  reverence  and  worship,  regarded  it  not  merely 
as  the  dwelling-place  of  spirits,  but  as  itself  a 
living  organism.  That  has  been  the  barbaric 
idea  about  it  everywhere ;  and  little  wonder. 
For  the  primitive  mind  associates  life  with 
motion;     and    if   in    rolling    stone    and    waving 

^  John  Myre's  Instruction  to  his  Clergy,  Early  English 
Text  Soc,  1896.  And  see  Folk  Medicine,  p.  89,  W.  G. 
Black. 

^  "  Then  Israel  sang  this  song  :  Spring  up,  O  well,  sing 
ye  unto  it." — Num.  xxi.  17. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      81 

branch  it  sees  not  merely  the  home  and  haunt  of 
spirit,  but  spirit  itself,  how  much  more  so  in 
tumbling  cataract,  swirling  rapid,  and  tossing 
sea,  swallowing  or  rejecting  alike  the  victim  and 
the  offering.  Birthplace  of  life  itself,  and  ever 
Hfe's  necessity;  mysterious  fluid  endowed  with 
cleansing  and  healing  qualities,  the  feeling  that 
invests  it  can  only  be  refined,  it  cannot  perish. 
And  we  therefore  think  with  sympathy  of  that 
"  divine  honour "  which  Gildas  tells  us  our 
forefathers  "  paid  to  wells  and  streams  " ;  of  the 
food-bringing  rivers  which,  in  the  old  Celtic  faith, 
were  "  mothers " ;  of  the  eddy  in  which  the 
water-demon  lurked ;  of  the  lakes  ruled  by  lonely 
queens;  of  the  nymphs  who  were  the  presiding 
genii  of  wells.  Happily,  the  Church  treated  this 
old  phase  of  nature -worship  tenderly,  adapting 
what  it  could  not  abolish,  substituting  the  name 
of  Madonna  or  saint  for  the  pagan  presiding  deity 
of  the  spring.  Most  reasonable,  therefore,  is  the 
contention  that  the  barbaric  lustrations  reappear 
in  the  rite  at  Christian  fonts ;  that  the  brush  of 
the  pagan  temple  sprinkles  the  faithful  with  holy 
water,  as  it  still  sprinkles  with  benediction  the 
horses  in  the  Palio  or  prize  races  at  Siena;  ^  and 
that  the  leprous  Naaman  repairing  to  the  Jordan, 

^  Roba  di  Roma,  p.  454,  W.  W.  Story.  And  see  Palio 
and  Ponte :  an  account  of  the  Sports  of  Central  Italy  from 
the  Age  of  Dante  to  the  XXth  Century,  William  Heywood. 


82  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

together  with  the  sick  waiting  their  turn  on  the 
margin  of  Bethesda,  have  their  correspondences 
in  the  children  dipped  in  wells  to  be  cured  of 
rickets,  in  the  dragging  of  lunatics  through  deep 
water  to  restore  their  reason,  and  in  the  cripples 
who  travel  in  thousands  to  bathe  their  limbs  in 
the  well  of  St.  Winifred  in  Fhntshire  and  in  the 
spring  that  bubbles  in  the  grotto  at  Lourdes. 
The  influence  which  pagan  symbolism  had  on 
Christian  art  and  doctrine  has  interesting  illus- 
tration in  a  mosaic  of  the  sixth  century  at 
Ravenna,  representing  the  baptism  of  Jesus. ^ 
The  water  flows  from  an  inverted  urn,  held  by  a 
venerable  figure,  typifying  the  river-god  of  the 
Jordan,  with  reeds  growing  beside  his  head, 
and  snakes  coiling  round  it.  Christ  means 
"  anointed,"  and  in  the  use  of  oil  in  baptismal 
rites  there  is  belief  in  its  magical  virtue,  as 
exampled  in  a  prayer  in  the  Acts  of  Thomas — 

"  O  Jesus,  may  thy  victorious  power  come 
and  may  it  enter  into  this  oil,  even  as  it  came 

1  "  Baptism  in  primitive  Christianity  was  at  first  symbol- 
ical— an  act  of  ritual  purification  which  was  believed  to 
indicate  the  remission  of  sins  and  bestowal  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  But  by  the  second  century  Christianity  had  become 
a  mystery  in  the  Greek  sense,  into  which  the  novice,  after  a 
period  of  preparation,  was  duly  initiated  by  baptism,  and 
indeed  the  act  was  believed  to  have  a  magic  power  to  secure 
immortality,  closely  parallel  to  that  of  the  pagan  initiation."— 
Pagan  Ideas  of  Immortality,  p.  52,  Dr.  C.  H.  Moore  (The 
Ingersoll  Lectiure,  1918). 


MANA   IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS      83 

down    into    the    Cross    which    hath    fellowship 
therewith  .  .  .  and    may    it    dwell    in    this    oil 
over  which  we  name  Thine  Holy  Name."  ^ 
(/)  Mana  in  Initiation  Names. 
As   used   in   anthropology,   the   term   "  initia- 
tion "    means    the    imparting    of   knowledge    of 
mysteries — magical  and  ceremonial  secrets,  which 
must   not,   on   pain   of  death,    be   disclosed — to 
individuals  at  a  given  period  of  life  when  they 
are  admitted  to  full  membership  of  the  tribe, 
or,  as  among  civilized  people,  to  religious  com- 
munities,   or    to    social    organizations,    such    as 
freemasonry.     From  the  dawn  of  thought,  dread 
has  ceaselessly  played  its  part  round  the  great 
events   of  birth,    puberty,    marriage   and   death. 
It  is  the  arrival  of  youth  of  both  sexes  at  maturity 
as  men  and  women  that  has  given  rise  to  a  mass 
of   customs   in    which    mutilation   and   tests    of 
endui'ance  are  leading  features,  and,  what  mainly 
concerns  us  here,  to  the  bestowal  of  a  new  and 
hidden    name    on   the    initiated,  sometimes    the 
teaching  of  another  language  being  added. 

In  his  account  of  the  initiation  customs  among 
the  natives  of  the  Torres  Straits,  Dr.  Haddon 
gives  a  literal  transcript  of  the  code  of  morals 
enjoined  on  the  youths,  which  is  admirable  in 
its  directness  and  simplicity.  "  You  no  steal. 
S'pose  man  ask  for  kaiki  (food)  or  water  or  any- 
^  Early  Christianity,  p.  13,  S.  B.  Slack. 


84  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

thing  else,  you  give  him  half  what  you  got.  If 
you  do,  good  boy,  if  you  no  do,  no  one  like  you. 
You  no  go  and  tell  a  lie.  You  speak  straight. 
Look  after  father  and  mother,  never  mind  if  you 
and  your  wife  have  to  go  without.  Don't  speak 
bad  word  to  mother."  ^ 

In  the  manhood -initiation  rites  of  the  native 
Australians  a  long  series  of  ceremonies  is  followed 
by  the  conferring  of  a  new  name  on  the  youth, 
and  the  sponsor,  who  may  be  said  to  correspond 
to  a  godfather  among  ourselves,  opens  a  vein  in 
his  own  arm,  and  the  lad  then  drinks  the  warm 
blood.  A  curious  addition  to  the  New  South 
Wales  ritual  consists  in  the  giving  of  a  white 
stone  or  quartz  crystal,  called  mundie,  to  the 
novitiate  in  manhood  when  he  receives  his  new 
name.  "  This  stone  is  counted  a  gift  from  deity, 
and  is  held  peculiarly  sacred.  A  test  of  the  young 
man's  moral  stamina  is  made  by  the  old  men 
trying,  by  all  sorts  of  persuasion,  to  induce  him 
to  surrender  this  possession  when  first  he  has 
received  it.  This  accompaniment  of  a  new  name 
is  worn  concealed  in  the  hair  tied  up  in  a  packet, 
and  is  never  shown  to  the  women,  who  are 
forbidden  to  look  at  it  under  pain  of  death."  ^ 

Among  the  Charaiba  or  Caribs  of  the  West 
Indies  the  arrival  of  a  youth  at  puberty  ushered 

1  Expedition  to  Torres  Straits,  Vol.  V.  p.  210. 

2  2'he  Blood  Covenant,  p.  336,  H.  Trumbull. 


MANA   IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS      85 

in  an  hour  of  severe  trial.  He  was  now  to  ex- 
change the  name  he  had  received  in  his  infancy 
for  one  more  somiding  and  significant — a  ceremony 
of  high  importance  in  the  Ufe  of  a  Cliaraibe,  but 
always  accompanied  by  a  scene  of  ferocious 
festivity  and  unnatural  cruelty.  .  .  .  Penances 
still  more  severe,  and  torments  more  excruciating, 
stripes,  burning  and  suffocation  constituted  a 
test  for  him  who  aspired  to  the  honour  of  leading 
forth  his  countrymen  in  war.  ...  If  success 
attended  his  measures,  the  feast  and  the  triumph 
awaited  his  return.  He  exchanged  his  name  a 
second  time,  assuming  in  future  that  of  the  most 
formidable  Anonank  that  had  fallen  by  his  hand.^ 
In  East  Central  Africa  the  birth-name  is 
changed  when  the  initiatory  rites  are  performed, 
after  which  it  must  never  be  mentioned.  Mr. 
Duff-Macdonald  says  that  it  is  a  terrible  way  of 
teasing  a  Wayao  to  point  to  a  little  boy  and  ask 
if  he  remembers  what  was  his  name  when  he  was 
about  the  size  of  that  boy.^  Miss  Mary  Kingsley 
confirms  these  reports  of  silence  and  secrecy  on 
the  part  of  the  initiated.  She  says  that  "  the 
great  point  of  importance  between  all  the  West 
African  secret  societies  lies  in  the  methods  of 
initiation  .  .  .  the     boys     always    take    a    new 

^  Hist,  of  the  W.  Indies,  Vol.  I.  p.  47,  Bryan  Edwards 
(1801). 

2  Africana,  Vol.  I.  p.  428. 


86  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

name;  they  are  supposed  by  the  initiation 
process  to  become  new  beings  in  the  magic  wood 
and  on  their  return  to  the  village  they  pretend 
to  have  entirely  forgotten  their  life  before  they 
entered  the  wood.  They  all  learn,  to  a  certain 
extent,  a  new  language,  a  secret  one,  understood 
only  by  the  initiated."  ^  In  the  Congo,  initiation 
is  sometimes  a  prolonged  business;  the  youth, 
stupefied  by  some  potion,  is  carried  to  the  forest, 
circumcized  and  declared  to  be  dead.  On  his 
return  the  villagers  receive  him  as  one  restored 
to  life  :  he  receives  a  new  name  and  pretends 
that  he  has  forgotten  his  parents  and  friends. 
Corresponding  in  detail  with  this,  as  set  forth 
in  a  manuscript  by  Mr.  Dennett  which  I  was 
shown,  are  the  initiation  customs  in  Loango. 
Here  we  seem  scarcely  removed  from  the  ritual 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  when  the  Miserere 
is  chanted  and  a  pall  flung  over  the  nun  who 
takes  the  veil  and  effaces  her  old  self  under 
another  name.  Death,  rebirth  and  resurrection 
are  symbolized ;  "  the  old  Adam  "  is  cast  out 
and  a  new  life  begun. 

At  his  baptism  an  Abyssinian  child  has  two 
names  given  him,  one  for  common  use,  the  other 
remaining  secret.  Parallel  to  this  is  the  ancient 
Egyptian  custom  of  two  names,  one  by  which  a 
man  was  known  to  his  fellows,  while  the  other 
^  Travels  in  fF.  Africa,  p.  531. 


MANA   IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS       87 

was  his  true  and  great  name  by  which  he  was 
known  to  the  supernal  powers  and  in  the  other 
world  .^  The  medicine-man  among  the  Aruntas 
of  Central  Australia  is  not  given  a  new  name, 
but  the  Irunkarinia  or  spirits  are  believed  to  tell 
him  and  to  provide  him  with  a  new  set  of  internal 
organs  :  this  is  followed  by  his  resurrection. ^ 
The  Buddhist  priest  to  whom  the  mystic  doctrine 
of  his  religion  is  imparted  in  the  anointing  rite, 
takes  a  new  name,  the  Buddhist  chip-ko  or 
"  monk  "  changes  his  family  name  for  "  name 
in  religion,"  ^  and  the  same  custom  obtains 
among  Anglican  and  Catholic  monastic  orders. 
Likewise,  the  Pope,  but  although,  so  the  legend 
runs,  Peter  was  the  first  Bishop  of  Rome,  no 
pope  has  ventured  to  take  the  apostle's  name. 

These  correspondences  bring  us  face  to  face 
with  the  large  question  of  the  origin  of  the  rites 
and  ceremonies  of  civilized  faiths  which  show  no 
essential  difference  in  character  from  those  in 
practice  among  barbaric  races.  Those  who  con- 
tend, for  example,  that  the  ordinance  of  baptism 
in  the  Christian  Church  is  of  divine  authority, 
thus  possessing  warrant  which  makes  it  wholly 
a  thing  apart  from  the  lustrations  and  naming- 

^  Transactions  of  the  Oocford  Congress  of  Religions,  Vol.  II. 
p.  359. 

2  Natives  Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  p.  524,  Spencer  and 
Gillen. 

3  Buddhist  China,  p.  157,  H.  E.  Johnston, 


88  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

customs  which  are  so  prominent  a  feature  of 
barbaric  Hfe,  will  not  be  at  pains  to  compare  the 
one  with  the  other.  If  they  do,  it  will  be  rather 
to  assume  that  the  lower  is  a  travesty  of  the 
higher,  in  the  spirit  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
missionaries,  MM.  Gabet  and  Hue,  who,  on 
seeing  the  tonsured  Buddhist  monks  with  all 
the  apparatus  of  rosaries,  bells,  holy  water,  and 
relics,  believed  that  the  devil,  as  arch-deceiver, 
had  tempted  these  ecclesiastics  to  dress  them- 
selves in  the  clothes  of  Christians,  and  mock 
their  solemn  rites. 

(g)  Mana  in  Euphemisms. 

Persons  and  things  cannot  remain  nameless, 
and  avoidance  of  one  set  of  names  compels  the 
use  of  others.  Hence  ingenuity  comes  into  play 
to  devise  substitutes,  roundabout  phrases, 
euphemisms  (literally  "to  speak  well")  and  the 
like.  Many  motives  are  at  work  in  the  selection. 
Both  dead  and  living  things  are  often  given 
complimentary  names  in  "  good  omen  words," 
as  the  Cantonese  call  them,  in  place  of  names  that 
it  is  believed  will  grate  or  annoy,  such  mode  of 
flattery  being  employed  to  ward  off  possible 
mischief,  and  also  through  fear  of  arousing  jealousy 
or  spite  in  maleficent  spirits. 

Names  are  also  changed  with  the  object  of 
confusing  or  deceiving  the  agents  of  disease,  and 
even  death  itself. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      89 

The  flattering  and  cajoling  words  in  which 
barbaric  man  addresses  the  animals  he  desires 
to  propitiate,  or  designs  to  kill,  may  be  attributed 
to  belief  in  their  kinship  with  him,  and  in  the 
transmigi'ation  of  souls  which  makes  the  beast 
a  possible  embodiment  of  some  ancestor  or  of 
another  animal.  Hence  the  homage  paid  to  it, 
while  the  man  stands  ready  to  spear  or  shoot  it. 
Throughout  the  northern  part  of  Eurasia,  the 
bear  has  been  a  chief  object  of  worship,  and 
apologetic  and  propitiatory  ceremonies  accom- 
pany the  slaying  of  him  for  food.  The  Ainu  of 
Yezo  and  the  Gilyaks  of  Eastern  Siberia  beg  his 
pardon  and  worship  his  dead  body,  hanging  up 
his  skull  on  a  tree  as  a  charm  against  evil  spirits. 
Swedes,  Lapps,  Finns,  and  Esthonians  apply  the 
tenderest  and  most  coaxing  terms  to  him.  The 
Swedes  and  Lapps  avert  his  wrath  by  calling 
him  the  "  old  man  "  and  "  grandfather  " ;  the 
Esthonians  speak  of  him  as  the  "  broad -footed," 
but  it  is  among  the  Finns  that  we  find  the  most 
euphemistic  names  applied  to  him.  The  forty- 
sixth  rune  of  the  Kalevala  has  for  its  theme  the 
capture  and  killing  of  the  "  sacred  Otso,"  who  is 
also  addressed  as  the  "  honey-eater,"  the  "  fm-- 
robed,"  the  "  forest -apple,"  who  gives  his  Hfe 
"a  sacrifice  to  Northland."  Wlien  he  is  slain, 
Wainamoinen,  the  old  magician-hero  of  the  story, 
sings  the  birth  and  fate  of  Otso,  and  artfully 


90  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

strives  to  make  the  dead  grizzly  believe  that  no 
cruel  hand  killed  him,  but  that  he  fell — 

"  From  the  fir-tree  where  he  slumbered, 
Tore  his  breast  upon  the  branches, 
Freely  gave  his  life  to  others." 

Thorpe  says  that  in  Swedish  popular  belief 
there  "  are  certain  animals  which  should  not  at 
any  time  be  spoken  of  by  their  proper  names, 
but  always  with  kind  allusions.  If  anyone 
speaks  slightingly  to  a  cat,  or  beats  her,  her  name 
must  not  be  uttered,  for  she  belongs  to  the  hellish 
crew,  and  is  intimate  with  the  BergtroU  in  the 
mountains,  where  she  often  goes.  In  speaking 
of  the  cuckoo,  the  owl,  and  the  magpie,  great 
caution  is  necessary,  lest  one  should  be  ensnared, 
as  they  are  birds  of  sorcery.^  Such  birds,  also 
snakes,  one  ought  not  to  kill  without  cause,  lest 
their  death  be  avenged;  and,  in  like  manner, 
Mohammedan  women  dare  not  call  a  snake  by 
its  name  lest  it  bite  them." 

In  India  low-class  people  call  the  snake  "  the 
creeper  by  night,"  ^  and  among  the  Cherokees 
of  North  America  a  man  bitten  by  a  snake  is  said 
to  be  "scratched  by  a  briar  "  lest  the  feelings  of 
the  animal  should  be  hurt.  The  Malays  of  one 
jungle  will  not  mention  the  name  of  a  tiger  lest 

1  Northern  Mythology,  Vol.  II.  pp.  83,  84 ;  and.  gee  Lloyd's 
Scandinavian  Adventures,  Vol.  I.  p.  475, 

2  Folk-lore  Record,  Vol.  IV.  p.  98, 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS      91 

the  beast,  hearing  himself  called  upon,  should 
come  to  the  speaker.  A  tiger  is  therefore  usually 
spoken  of  as  Si-Pudang  or  "  he  of  the  hairy  face," 
or  To  Blang  "the  striped  one,"  or  some  similar 
euphemism.^  In  Annam  he  is  called  "  grand- 
father "  or  "  lord,"  and  both  in  Northern  Asia 
and  Sumatra  the  same  device  of  some  bamboozhng 
name  is  adopted. 

The  Kaffirs  give  the  lion  comphmentary  names 
when  there  is  danger  of  an  attack,  but  they  use 
its  name  when  there  is  no  risk  of  his  hearing  it. 
Similarly,  a  porcupine  is  called  "  a  little  woman  " 
or  "  young  lady,"  lest  if  called  by  its  actual  name 
it  should  show  resentment  by  devastating  the 
gardens.^ 

There  is  current  among  the  Patani  fishermen 
who  are  Malays,  and,  in  their  rehgion,  Moham- 
medans, a  system  of  prohibitions  in  accordance 
with  which  certain  families  are  named  after 
certain  fish  which  they  will  on  no  account  eat  and 
which  they  refrain  from  killing.  The  fishermen 
are  specially  careful  to  avoid  mentioning  certain 
words,  mostly  names  of  animals,  when  on  the 
water,  and  hence  express  their  meaning  by  a 
system  of  periphrases  almost  amounting  to 
another   language,    called    halik?     "  Among  the 

1  Letter  from  Sir  Hugh  Clifford,  K.C.M.G. 

2  Savage  Children,  p.  110,  Dudley  Kidd, 

3  Man,  No.  88,  1903, 


92  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

Jews  the  taboo  had  great  force,  for  they  were 
forbidden  to  have  leaven  in  their  houses  during 
the  Passover,  and  they  abstained  from  even  using 
the  word.  Being  forbidden  swine's  flesh,  they 
avoid  the  word  pig  altogether,  and  call  that 
animal  dabchar  acheer,  'the  other  thing.'  In 
Canton  the  porpoise  or  river-pig  is  looked  upon 
as  a  creature  of  ill-omen,  and  on  that  account 
its  name  is  tabooed."  ^ 

The  Swedes  fear  to  tread  on  a  toad,  because  it 
may  be  an  enchanted  princess.  The  fox  is  called 
"  blue-foot,"  or  "  he  that  goes  in  the  forest  " ; 
among  the  Esthonians  he  is  "  grey-coat  " ;  and 
in  Mecklenberg,  for  twelve  days  after  Christmas, 
he  goes  by  the  name  "  long  tail."  In  Sweden 
the  seal  is  "  brother  Lars,"  and  throughout 
Scandinavia  the  superstitions  about  wolves  are 
numerous.  In  some  districts  during  a  portion 
of  the  spring  the  peasants  dare  not  call  that 
animal  by  his  usual  name,  Varg,  lest  he  carry  off 
the  cattle,  so  they  substitute  the  names,  Ulf, 
Grahans,  or  "  gold  foot,"  because  in  olden  days, 
when  dumb  creatures  spoke,  the  wolf  said— 

"  If  thou  called  me  Varg,  I  will  be  wroth  with  thee, 
But  if  thou  callest  me  of  gold,  I  will  be  kind  to  thee." 

The  fishermen  of  the  West  Coast  of  Ireland 
never  talk  of  rats  as  such,   but  use  the  name 
"  old  iron."     They  beUeve  that  rats  understand 
1  Folk-lore  Record,  Vol.  IV.  p.  77. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      93 

human  speech  and  will  take  revenge  if  called  by 
their  names.  The  Claddogh  folk  of  Gal  way 
would  not  go  to  fish  if  they  saw  a  fox,  and  the 
name  is  as  unlucky  as  the  thing.  Livonian 
fishermen  (and  the  same  superstition  is  prevalent 
from  Ireland  to  Italy)  fear  to  endanger  the 
success  of  their  nets  by  calling  certain  animals, 
as  the  hare,  pig,  dog,  and  so  forth,  by  their 
common  names ;  while  the  Esthonians  fear  to 
mention  the  hare  lest  their  crops  of  flax  should 
fail.  The  salmon  is  unlucky  with  the  Moray 
Firth  fishermen  and  the  older  men  will  not 
mention  it,  they  call  it  the  "  beastie."  With  it 
clergymen,  cats  and  swine  rank  as  harbingers  of 
ill  fortune — clergymen  being  especially  bad  luck- 
bringers  if  they  are  in  the  market  when  the  fish 
is  being  sold.  There  is  a  Jonah  touch  about  this. 
At  sea  it  is  unlucky,  as  stated  by  Miss  Cameron, 
to  mention  minister,  salmon,  hare,  rabbit,  rat, 
pig,  and  porpoise.  It  is  also  extremely  unlucky 
to  mention  the  names  of  certain  old  women,  and 
some  clumsy  roundabout  nomenclature  results, 
such  as  "  Her  that  lives  up  the  stair  opposite  the 
pump,"  etc.  But  on  the  Fifcshire  coast  the  pig 
is  par  excellence  the  unlucky  being.  "  Soo's 
tail  to  ye  !  "  is  the  common  taunt  of  the  (non- 
fishing)  small  boy  on  the  pier  to  the  outgoing 
fisher  in  his  boat.  (Compare  the  mocking  "  Soo's 
tail  to  Geordie  I  "  of  the  Jacobite  political  song.) 


94  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

At  the  present  day  a  pig's  tail  actually  flung 
into  the  boat  rouses  the  occupants  to  genuine 
wrath.  One  informant  told  me  that  some  years 
ago  he  flung  a  pig's  tail  aboard  a  boat  passing 
outwards  at  Buckhaven,  and  that  the  crew  turned 
and  came  back.  Another  stated  that  he  and  some 
other  boys  united  to  cry  out  in  chorus,  "  There's 
a  soo  in  the  bow  o'  your  boat  !  "  to  a  man  who 
was  hand -line  fishing  some  distance  from  shore. 
On  hearing  the  repeated  cry  he  hauled  up  anchor 
and  came  into  harbour.^ 

If  the  word  "  rabbits  "  is  anathema  to  the 
Cornish  fisherman,  "  swine  "  is  equally  hated  by 
the  inhabitants  of  some  of  the  little  fishing  towns 
on  the  East  Coast  of  Scotland.  The  horror 
with  which  the  word  is  held  led  to  a  scene  in  one 
of  the  churches  not  so  very  long  ago.  The 
minister,  in  the  course  of  the  service,  had  occasion 
to  read  the  story  of  the  Gadarene  demoniacs, 
in  which  the  verse  occurs,  "  Now  there  was  there, 
nigh  unto  the  mountains,  a  great  herd  of  swine 
feeding."  Scarcely  had  he  uttered  the  unlucky 
word  than  he  was  interrupted  with  a  wild  yell 
of  "  Cauld  Iron  !  "  a  talismanic  phrase  which 
the  natives  believe  possesses  the  power  to  check- 
mate the  baneful  influence  of  "  swine."  It  is 
the  Scottish  equivalent  for  touching  wood.^ 
During  the  late  war  the  small  holders  in  the 
1  Folk-lore,  Vol.  XV.  p.  76.     ^  jjg^Hy  Chronicle,  May  26, 191 1. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      95 

Highlands  refused  to  comply  with  a  recom- 
mendation from  the  Board  of  Agriculture  to 
keep  pigs.  Lord  Leverhulme  found  this  dread 
of  swine  deep-rooted  in  the  Hebrides.  Perhaps 
this  pig-taboo  is  an  unconscious  survival  of  a 
totem-prohibition.i 

In  Malaya  the  camphor-gatherers,  believing 
that  a  spirit  inhabits  the  trees,  use  special  words — 
"  camphor-taboo-language  "  —  to  propitiate  it, 
and  in  the  same  country,  the  Pawang,  or  sorcerer, 
has  a  busy  time  in  propitiating  and  scaring  those 
spirits  which  had  to  do  with  mines.  Mr.  Skeat 
says  that  the  miners  believe  that  the  tin  itself  is 
alive  and  can  of  its  own  free  will  move  from  place 
to  place  and  reproduce  itself ;  hence  it  is  called  by 
other  names  so  that  it  may  be  obtained  without 
its  knowing  it.^  The  animistic  ideas,  with  their 
assumption  of  a  spirit  incarnate  or  indwelling 
everywhere,  extends  to  other  metals,  there  being 
the  clearest  evidence  of  these  ideas  about  iron.^ 
Silver  ore  is  thus  invoked  by  the  miners — 

"  Peace  be  with  you,  O  Child  of  the  Solitary  Jin  Salaka 
(Silver), 
I  know  your  origin.  .  .  . 

If  you  do  not  come  hither  at  this  very  moment, 
You  shall  be  a  rebel  unto  God, 
And  a  rebel  unto  God's  Prophet  Solomon, 
For  I  am  God's  Prophet  Solomon."  ^ 


^  Times,  May  28,  1920.  ^  Malay  Magic,  p.  260. 

3  Ih.,  p.  273.  4  lb.,  p.  273. 


96  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

In  the  Hebrides  the  fire  of  a  kiln  is  called 
aingeal,  not  teine,  because  the  latter  is  dangerous 
and  ill  will  comes  if  it  is  mentioned  .^ 

The  desire  not  to  offend,  to  "  let  sleeping  dogs 
lie,"  as  we  say,  explains  why  the  Hindus  call 
Siva,  their  god  of  destruction,  the  "  gracious 
one,"  and  why  a  like  euphemism  was  used  by  the 
Greeks  when  speaking  of  the  Furies  as  the 
Eumenides.  Mr.  Lawson  says  that  belief  in 
Nereids  among  the  Greek  peasants  is  in  full  swing 
to-day,  and  the  awe  in  which  they  are  held 
survives  in  their  speaking  of  them  as  "  Our  Good 
Ladies"  or  the  "Kind-Hearted  Ones."  "I 
myself  once  had  a  Nereid  pointed  out  to  me  by 
my  guide,  who,  with  many  signs  of  the  Cross  and 
muttered  invocations  of  the  Virgin,  urged  my 
mule  to  perilous  haste  along  the  rough  mountain 
path."  2 

Both  Greek  and  Galway  peasants  call  the 
fairies  "  the  others,"  while  the  natives  of  the 
Gilbert  and  Marshall  Islands,  Mr.  Louis  Becke 
told  me,  speak  of  the  spirits  as  "  they,"  "  those," 
or  "  the  thing."  With  sly  humour,  not  unmixed 
with  respect  for  the  "  quality,"  the  Irish  speak 
of  the  tribes  of  the  goddess  Danu  as  "  the 
gentry  " ;  in  Sligo  we  hear  of  the  "  royal  gentry  " ; 

1  Folk-lore,  Vol.  X.  p.  265. 

2  Modern  Greek  Folk-lore,  p.  131. 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE  THINGS      97 

in  Glamorganshire  the  fairies  arc  called  the 
"  mother's  blessing."  If  the  fays  are  the  "  good 
people,"  the  witches  are  "  good  dames,"  and 
their  gatherings  "  the  sport  of  the  good  com- 
pany." It  is  a  Swedish  belief  that  if  one  speaks 
of  the  troll-pack  or  witch-crew,  and  names  fire 
and  water,  or  the  church  to  which  one  goes  (this 
last  condition  is  post-Christian),  no  harm  can 
arise.  ^ 

The  Arabs  and  Syrians  call  the  jinn  "  the  blessed 
ones  " ;  they  should  always  be  thus  addressed 
when  an  empty  cave  or  room  is  entered,  lest  they 
pounce  on  one  unawares.  "  Talk  of  the  devil 
and  you'll  see  his  horns,"  but  he  may  be  out- 
witted if  called  by  some  name  unfamiliar  to  him, 
or  that  raises  no  suspicion  that  he  is  being  talked 
about.  In  the  Hebrides  he  is  the  "  black  or 
brindled  one,"  or  the  "  great  fellow."  He  is  the 
"Old  Nick"  or  "  Auld  Hornie,"  who  rules  in 
hell,  "the  good  place."  An  Eastern  story  tells 
that  the  devil  once  had  a  bet  with  someone 
that  he  would  obtain  a  meal  in  a  certain  city 
renowned  for  piety.  He  entered  house  after 
house  at  dinner  time,  but  was  always  baulked 
by  the  name  of  Allah,  till  one  day  he  happened 
on  the  dwelling  of  a  Frankish  consul  who  was  at 
table  wrestling  with  a  tough  beefsteak.     "  Devil 

^  Northern  Mythology,  Vol.  II.  p.  84,  B.  Thorpe. 

H 


98  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

take  the  meat,"  said  the  consul,  and  the  devil 
took  it.^ 

In  his  Folk-lore  round  Horncastle,  the  Rev.  J.  A. 
Penryn  tells  a  story  entitled  "  The  Devil's  Supper 
Party,"  in  which  a  Methodist  preacher  is  wakened 
at  twelve  o'clock  one  Saturday  night  by  a  raging 
wind,  and  hears  a  terrible  voice  crying  out, 
"  Come  down  to  supper."  Trembling,  he  dresses 
and  comes  down. 

"  When  he  got  down  he  saw  a  very  grand  supper 
laid  out  on  the  table,  with  wine  poured  out  in 
glasses,  and  twelve  black  devils  sitting  round 
the  table,  and  a  much  bigger  one  at  one  end,  with 
a  chair  left  ready  for  him  at  the  other,  opposite 
him.  Looking  at  him,  the  biggest  Devil  said  : 
'  Ask  a  blessing.'     He  was  inspired  to  say — 

"  Jesus,  the  Name  high  over  all, 
In  hell  or  earth  or  sky ; 
Angels  and  men  before  Him  fall, 
And  devils  fear  and  fly." 

At  the  Name  of  Jesus,  the  devils  all  jumped 
up,  and  one  by  one  disappeared,  the  thirteenth 
and  biggest  being  the  last  to  disappear  at  the 
word  "  fly,"  and  when  the  preacher  looked  at 
the  table  there  was  nothing  on  it.^ 

1  Folk-lore  of  the  Holy  Land,  p.  202. 

2  "  Let  a  man  defeat  the  devils  by  reading  the  Scriptures 
and  calling  upon  the  names  of  the  holy  ones." — Buddhist 
China,  p.  188,  R.  F.  Johnston.  ' 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS      99 

"  Even  inanimate  things,"  Thorpe  says,  "  are 
not  at  all  times  to  be  called  by  their  usual  names ; 
fire,  for  example,  is  on  some  occasions  not  to  be 
called  eld  or  ell,  but  heita  (heat);  water  used  for 
brewing,  not  vatu,  but  lag  or  lou,  otherwise  the 
beer  would  not  be  so  good."  Dr.  Nansen  says 
that  the  Greenlanders  dare  not  pronounce  the 
name  of  a  glacier  as  they  row  past  it,  for  fear 
that  it  should  be  offended  and  throw  off  an 
iceberg.^ 

The  dread  that  praises  or  soft  phrases  may  call 
the  attention  of  the  ever-watchful  maleficent 
spirits  to  the  person  thus  favoured,  causing  the 
evil  eye  to  cast  its  baleful  spell,  or  black  magic 
to  do  its  fell  work,  has  given  rise  to  manifold 
precautions.  In  modern  Greece  any  allusion  to 
the  beauty  or  strength  of  the  child  is  avoided; 
and  if  such  words  slip  out,  they  are  at  once  atoned 
for  by  one  of  the  traditional  expiatory  formulas  .^ 
The  world-wide  belief  in  the  invisible  powers  as, 
in  the  main,  keen  to  pounce  on  mortals,  explains 
the  Chinese  custom  of  giving  their  boys  a  girl's 
name  to  deceive  the  gods;  sometimes  tabooing 
names  altogether,  and  calling  the  child  "  little 
pig  "  or  "  little  dog."     Among  the  Veddas,  the 

^  For  examples  of  this  see  Dr.  Westermarck's  Origin 
and  Develojmient  of  Moral  Ideas,  Vol.  I.  pp.  262  foil. 

2  Customs  and  Lore  of  Modern  Greece,  p.  Ill,  Sir  Rennell 
Rodd. 


100  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

names  of  children  are  avoided  to  avert  the 
attention  of  the  evil  Yaku  "  spirits  of  the  dead," 
who  would  bring  illness  or  death  on  the  named  .^ 
In  India,  especially  when  several  male  children 
have  died  in  the  family,  boys  are  dressed  as  girls 
to  avert  further  misfortune;  sometimes  a  nose- 
ring is  added  as  further  device.  Pausanias  tells 
the  story  of  the  young  Achilles  wearing  female 
attire  and  living  among  maidens,^  and  to  this  day 
the  peasants  of  Achill  Island  (on  the  north-west 
coast  of  Ireland)  dress  their  boys  as  girls  till  they 
are  about  fourteen  years  old  to  deceive  the  boy- 
seeking  devil.  In  the  west  of  Ireland  some 
phrase  invocative  of  blessing  should  be  used  on 
entering  a  cottage,  or  meeting  a  peasant,  or 
saluting  a  child,  because  this  shows  that  one 
has  no  connection  with  the  fairies,  and  will  not 
bring  bad  luck.  "  Anyone  who  did  not  give 
the  usual  expressions,  as  Mamdeud,  '  God  save 
you  ' ;  Slaunter,  '  your  good  health,'  and  Boluary, 
'  God  bless  the  work,'  was  looked  on  with  sus- 
picion." ^  A  well-mannered  Turk  will  not  pay  a 
compliment  without  uttering  "Mashallah";  an 
Italian  will  not  receive  one  without  saying  the 
protective  "  Grazia  a  Deo";  and  the  English 
peasant  woman  has  her  "  Lord  be  wi'  us  "  ready 
when  flattering  words  are  said  about  her  babe. 

1  The  Veddas,  p.  103,  C.  G.  Seligman.         ^  gk.  I.  22.  6, 
3  Folk-lore  Record,  Vol.  IV.  p.  112. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     101 

In  each  case  the  good  power  is  invoked  as  pro- 
tector against  the  dangers  of  fascination  and  other 
forms  of  the  black  art.^ 

A  survival  of  this  feeling  exists  in  the  modern 
housewife's  notion,  that  if  she  comments  on  the 
luck  attaching  to  some  household  god,  "  pride 
goes  before  a  fall."  She  may  have  exulted  over 
the  years  in  which  a  favourite  china  service  has 
remained  intact,  and  the  next  day,  as  she  reaches 
down  some  of  the  pieces,  the  memory  of  her 
vaunting  causes  the  hand  to  tremble,  and  the 
precious  ware  is  smashed  to  atoms  on  the  floor. 
It  has  been  often  remarked  that  if  any  mishaps 
attend  a  ship  on  her  first  voyage,  they  follow  her 
ever  after.  The  probable  explanation  is  that  the 
knowledge  of  the  accident  befalling  her  induces 
an  anxious  feeling  on  the  part  of  those  responsible 
for  her  safety,  which  often  unnerves  them  in  a 
crisis,  and  brings  about  the  very  calamity  which 
they  fear,  and  which,  under  ordinary  conditions, 
could  be  averted. 

Among  the  Hindus,  when  a  parent  has  lost  a 
child  by  disease,  which,  as  is  usually  the  case, 
is  attributed  to  fascination  or  other  demoniacal 
influence,  it  is  a  common  practice  to  call  the  next 
baby  by  some  opprobrious  name,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  so  depreciating  it  that  it  may  be  regarded 
as  worthless,  and  so  protected  from  the  evil  eye 
1  The  Evil  Eye,  p.  32,  F.  T.  Elworthy. 


102  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

of  the  envious.  Thus  a  male  child  is  called 
Kuriya,  or  "dunghill";  Khadheran  or  Ghasita, 
"  He  that  has  been  dragged  along  the  ground  " ; 
Duklii  or  Dukhita,  "  The  afflicted  one  " ;  Pha- 
tingua,  "  grasshopper  " ;  Jhingura,  "  cricket  " ; 
Bhiki'a  or  Bhikhu,  "  beggar  "  ;  Gharib,  "  poor  "  ; 
and  so  on.  So  a  girl  is  called  Andhri,  "  blind," 
Tinkouriya  or  Chhahkauriya,  "  She  that  was 
sold  for  three  or  six  cowry  shells  " ;  Dhuriya, 
"dusty";  Machhiya,  "fly,"  and  so  on.  All 
this  is  connected  with  what  the  Scots  call  "  fore- 
speaking,"  when  praise  beyond  measure,  praise 
accompanied  by  a  sort  of  amazement  or  envy,  is 
considered  likely  to  be  followed  by  disease  or 
accident.^ 

In  barbaric  belief  both  disease  and  death  are 
due  to  maleficent  agents,  any  theory  of  natural 
causes  being  foreign  to  the  savage  mind;  hence 
euphemisms  to  avert  the  evil.  In  the  North  of 
Scotland  the  smallpox  is  alluded  to  as  hhean 
mhaih  or  the  "  good  wife."  ^  In  India  (especially 
in  Bengal)  it  is  called  the  "  Mercy  of  the  Mother."  ^ 
The  Dyaks  of  Borneo  call  it  "  chief  "  or  "  jungle 
leaves,"  or  say,  "Has  he  left  you?"  while  the 
Cantonese  speak  of  this  "  Attila  of  the  host  of 
diseases  "  as  "  heavenly  flower,"  or  "  good  inten- 

1  Folk-lore  of  Northern  India,  Vol.  II.  p.  4,  W.  Crooke. 

2  Superstitions  of  the  Highlands,  p.  237,  J.  G.  Campbell. 

3  Letter  from  Mr.  Hemendra  Prasad  Ghose,  Calcutta. 


MANA   IN  INTANGIBLE  THINGS     103 

tion,"  and  deify  it  as  a  goddess.  The  Greeks 
call  it  so'koyla  or  "  she  that  must  be  named 
with  respect."  Both  modern  Greeks  and  Slavs 
personify  that  disease  as  a  supernatural  being; 
she  is  to  the  former  "  Gracious  "  or  "  Pitiful," 
and  to  the  latter  "  the  goddess."  ^ 

Similarly,  the  Chinese  deem  ague  to  be  produced 
by  a  ghost  or  spirit,  and  for  fear  of  offending  him 
they  will  not  speak  of  that  disease  under  its 
proper  name.^  De  Quincey  has  remarked  on 
the  avoidance  of  all  mention  of  death  as  a  common 
euphemism ;  and  of  this  China  is  full  of  examples. 
In  the  Book  of  Rites  it  is  called  "  the  great  sick- 
ness," and  when  a  man  dies,  he  is  said  to  have 
"  entered  the  measure,"  certain  terms  being  also 
applied  in  the  case  of  certain  persons.  For 
example,  the  Emperor's  death  is  called  iJang, 
"the  mountain  has  fallen";  when  a  scholar 
dies  he  is  pat  luk,  "  without  salary  or  emolu- 
ment." "  Coffins  "  are  tabooed  under  the  term 
"  longevity  boards."  ^  Mr.  Giles  says  that 
"  boards  of  old  age,"  and  "  clothes  of  old  age  sold 
here,"  are  common  shop-signs  in  every  Chinese 
city;  death  and  burial  being  always,  if  possible, 
spoken  of  euphemistically  in  some  such  terms  as 
these  .4 

1  Macedonian  Folk-lore,  p.  236,  G.  F.  Abbott. 

2  Folk-lore  Record,  Vol.  IV.  p.  78.  ^  /^^^  p_  §0. 
*  Strange  Stories  from  a  Chinese  Studio,  Vol.  I.  p.  402. 


104  MAGIC  IN   NAMES 

Mr.  Lawson  says  of  the  modern  Greeks  that 
"  even  the  more  educated  classes  retain  some- 
times an  instinctive  fear  of  making  Hght  of  the 
name  of  Charon,  lest  he  assert  his  reality.  For 
Charon  is  Death."  i  The  behef  that  spirits  know 
folks  by  their  names  further  explains  the  barbaric 
attitude  towards  disease  and  death.  "  The  other 
day,  a  woman  who  had  a  child  sick  in  the  hospital, 
begged  me  to  change  its  name  for  any  other  that 
might  please  me  best,  she  cared  not  what.  She 
was  sure  it  would  never  do  well,  so  long  as  it  was 
called  Lucia.  Perhaps  this  prejudice  respecting 
the  power  of  names  produces  in  some  measure 
this  unwiUingness  to  be  christened.  They  find 
no  change  produced  in  them,  except  by  alteration 
of  their  name,  and  hence  they  conclude  that  this 
name  contains  some  secret  power,  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  conceive  that  the  ghost  of  their 
ancestors  cannot  fail  to  be  offended  at  their 
abandonment  of  an  appellation,  either  hereditary 
in  the  family,  or  given  by  themselves."  ^ 

In  Borneo  the  name  of  a  sick  child  is  changed 
so  as  to  confuse  or  deceive  the  spirit  of  the 
disease;  the  Lapps  change  a  child's  baptismal 
name  if  it  falls  ill,  and  rebaptize  it  at  every 
illness,  as  if  they  thought  to  bamboozle  the  spirit 
by  this  simple  stratagem  of  an  alias.     When  the 

1  p.  98. 

2  Journal  of  a  W.I.  Proprietor,  p.  349,  M.  G.  Lewis. 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS     105 

life  of  a  Kwapa  Indian  is  supposed  to  be  in  danger 
from  illness,  he  at  once  seeks  to  get  rid  of  his 
name,  and  sends  to  another  member  of  the  tribe, 
who  goes  to  the  chief  and  buys  a  new  name,  which 
is  given  to  the  patient.  With  the  abandonment 
of  the  old  name  it  is  believed  that  the  sickness 
is  thrown  off.  "  On  the  reception  of  the  new 
name  the  patient  becomes  related  to  the  Kwapa 
who  purchased  it.  Any  Kwapa  can  change  or 
abandon  his  personal  name  four  times,  but  it  is 
considered  bad  luck  to  attempt  such  a  thing  for 
the  fifth  time."  ^  The  Rabbis  recommended  the 
giving  secretly  of  a  new  name,  as  a  means  of  new 
life,  to  him  who  is  in  danger  of  dying.  "  In  all 
Arabic  countries  there  is  a  strange  superstition 
of  parents  (and  this  as  well  among  the  Christian 
sects  of  Syria)  that  if  any  child  seem  to  be  sickly, 
or  of  infirm  understanding,  or  if  his  brethren  have 
died  before  him,  that  they  will  put  upon  him  a 
wild  beast's  name,  (especially  wolf,  leopard,  or 
wolverine)  so  that  their  human  fragility  may  take 
on,  as  it  were,  a  temper  of  the  kind  of  these 
animals."  ^ 

The  Rev.  Hildcric  Friend  vouches  for  the 
genuineness  of  the  following  story,  the  bearing 
of  which  on  the  continuity  of  barbaric  and  quasi- 

1  American  Folk-lore  Soc.  Journal,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  133. 

2  Wanderings  in  Arabia,  Vol.  I.  p.  159,  C.  M.  Doughty 
(1908  Edition). 


106  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

civilized  ideas  is  significant :    "  In  the  village  of 

S ,  near  Hastings,  there  lived  a  couple  who 

had  named  their  first-born  girl  Helen.  The  child 
sickened  and  died,  and  when  another  daughter 
was  born,  she  was  named  after  her  dead  sister. 
But  she  also  died,  and  on  the  birth  of  a  third 
daughter  the  cherished  name  was  repeated.  This 
third  Helen  died,  '  and  no  wonder,'  the  neigh- 
bours said ;  '  it  was  because  the  parents  had  used 
the  first  child's  name  for  the  others.'  About 
the  same  time  a  neighbour  had  a  daughter,  who 
was  named  Marian  because  of  her  likeness  to  a 
dead  sister.  She  showed  signs  of  weakness  soon 
after  birth,  and  all  said  that  she  would  die  as  the 
three  Helens  had  died,  because  the  name  Marian 
ought  not  to  have  been  used.  It  was  therefore 
tabooed,  and  the  girl  was  called  Maude.  She 
grew  to  womanhood,  and  was  married;  but  so 
completely  had  her  baptismal  name  of  Marian 
been  shunned,  that  she  was  married  under  the 
name  of  Maude,  and  by  it  continues  to  this 
day."  ^  In  some  parts  of  Italy  it  is  believed  that 
a  person  would  soon  die  if  his  name  were  given 
to  his  son  or  grandson.  Among  the  Brazilian 
Tupis  the  father  was  accustomed  to  take  a  new 
name  after  the  birth  of  each  son ;  and  on  killing 
an  enemy  his   name   would   be  taken  so  as  to 

1  Folk-lore  Record,  Vol.  IV.  p.  79. 


MANA  IN   INTANGIBLE    THINGS     107 

annihilate  that  as  well  as  his  body.^  The 
Chinooks  changed  their  names  when  a  near 
relative  died,  in  the  belief  that  the  spirits  would 
be  attracted  back  to  earth  if  they  heard  familiar 
names.  The  Lenguas  of  Brazil  changed  their 
names  on  the  death  of  anyone,  for  they  believed 
that  the  dead  knew  the  names  of  all  whom  they 
had  left  behind,  and  might  return  to  look  for 
them  :  hence  they  changed  their  names,  hoping 
that  if  the  dead  came  back  they  could  not  find 
them. 2  Although  the  belief,  that  if  the  dead  be 
named  their  ghosts  will  appear,  is  found  in  this 
crude  form  only  among  barbaric  folk,  there  is,  in 
this  attitude  towards  the  unseen,  no  qualitative 
difference  between  savage  and  civilized  man. 
Wherever  there  prevail  anthropomorphic  ideas 
about  the  Deity,  i,  e.  conception  of  Him  as  a 
"  non-natural,  magnified  man,"  to  use  Matthew 
Arnold's  phrase,  there  necessarily  follows  the 
assumption  that  the  relations  between  God  and 
man  are  essentially  like  in  character  to  those 
subsisting  between  human  beings.  The  majority 
of  civilized  mankind  have  no  doubt  that  God 
knows  each  one  of  them  and  all  their  belongings 
by  name,  as  He  is  recorded  to  have  known  men 
of  olden  time,  addressing  them  direct  or  through 
angels  by  their  names,  and  sometimes  altering 
these.  Take  for  example  :  "  Neither  shall  thy 
^  Westermarck,  Vol.  I.  p.  460.  ^  Dorman,  p.  154 


108  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

name  any  more  be  called  Abram,  but  thy  name 
shall  be  Abraham,  for  a  father  of  many  nations 
have  I  made  thee  "  (Gen.  xvii.  5).  "  And  he 
said,  Thy  name  shall  be  called  no  more  Jacob, 
but  Israel,  for  as  a  prince  hast  thou  power  with 
God  and  with  men,  and  hast  prevailed "  (lb. 
xxxii.  28).  "  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses, 
I  will  do  this  thing  also  that  thou  hast  spoken; 
for  thou  hast  found  grace  in  My  sight,  and  I  know 
thee  by  name  "  (Exod.  xxxiii.  17). 

Miscellaneous  as  are  the  contents  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  the  relations  between  the 
several  parts  of  which  have  arisen,  in  many 
instances,  through  the  arbitrary  decisions  of 
successive  framers  of  the  canon,  the  belief  in  the 
efficacy  of  names,  and  in  their  integral  connection 
with  things,  runs  through  the  Bible,  because 
that  belief  is  involved  in  the  unscientific  theories 
of  phenomena  which  are  present  in  all  ancient 
literatures.  Man  may  soar  into  the  abstract, 
but  he  has  to  live  in  the  concrete.  When  he 
descends  from  hazy  altitudes  to  confront  the 
forms  in  which  he  envisages  his  ideas,  he  finds 
what  slight  advance  he  has  made  upon  primitive 
conceptions.  The  God  of  the  current  theology 
is  no  nameless  Being,  and  one  of  the  prominent 
members  of  the  spiritual  hierarchy  is  that 
Recording  Angel  who  writes  the  names  of  re- 
deemed mortals  in  the  Book  of  Life.     Amidst  all 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     109 

the  vagueness  which  attaches  itself  to  conceptions 
of  another  world,  there  is  the  feehng  that  the 
names  of  the  departed  are  essential  to  their 
identification  when  they  enter  the  unseen,  and 
to  their  recognition  by  those  who  will  follow  them. 
Civilized  and  savage  are  here  on  the  same 
intellectual  plane. 

To  name  the  invisible  is  to  invoke  its  presence  or 
the  manifestation  of  its  power.  The  Norse  witches 
tied  up  wind  and  foul  matter  in  a  bag,  and  then, 
undoing  the  knot,  shouted  "  Wind,  in  the  devil's 
name,"  when  the  hurricane  swept  over  land  and 
sea;  while  the  witch's  dance  could  be  stopped  at 
the  utterance  of  the  name  of  God  or  Christ. 

(h)  Mana  in  Names  of  Kings  and  Priests. 

Avoidance  and  veneration  superstitions  gather 
force  with  the  ascending  rank  of  individuals. 
The  divinity  that  "  doth  hedge  "  both  king  and 
priest,  which  two  offices  were  originally  blended 
in  one  man,  increases  the  power  of  the  taboo. 
Until  Sir  James  Frazer  published  his  Golden 
Bought  the  significance  of  taboo  as  applied  to 
royal  and  sacerdotal  persons  was  somewhat 
obscure.  But  the  large  array  of  examples  which 
his  industry  has  collected  and  his  ingenuity 
interpreted,  make  it  clear  that  the  priest-king. 
Rex  Nemorensis,  was  regarded  as  the  incarnation 
of  supernatural  powers  on  whose  unhindered  and 
effective  working  the  welfare  of  men  depended. 


110  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

That  being  the  behef,  obviously  the  utmost  care 
was  used  to  protect  in  every  way  the  person  in 
whom  those  powers  were  incarnated,  markedly 
so  in  the  secrecy  of  "  hedging  a  king."  Among 
the  rules  which  governed  the  minutest  details  of 
his  life,  the  Flamen  Dialis,  who,  as  chief  of  the 
Roman  hierarchy,  was  consecrated  to  the  service 
of  Jupiter,  was  forbidden  to  touch  or  even  name 
a  goat,  a  dog,  raw  meat,  beans  and  ivy,  lest  harm 
might  come  to  him  for  so  doing.  Plutarch  was 
greatly  puzzled  in  his  search  after  a  rational 
explanation  of  these  and  kindred  matters,  and 
he  has  many  a  fanciful  comment  upon  them, 
erroneous  as  well  as  fanciful,  because  it  did  not 
occur  to  him  that  the  explanation  must  be 
sought  in  the  persistence  of  the  barbaric  ideas  of 
remote  ancestors. 

In  China  the  ming  or  proper  name  of  the 
reigning  Emperor  (sight  of  whom  is  tabooed 
when  he  leaves  his  palace,  even  his  guards  having 
to  turn  their  backs  to  the  line  when  the  Son  of 
Heaven  approaches)  is  sacred,  and  must  be  spelt 
differently  during  his  lifetime.^  Although  given 
in  the  prayer  offered  at  the  imperial  worship  of 
ancestors,  it  is  not  permitted  to  be  written  or 
pronounced  by  any  subject.  "  The  first  month  of 
the  Chinese  year  is  called  Chingut.  The  word 
ching  in  this  particular  case  is  pronounced  in  the 
^  Meeting  the  Sun,  p.  153,  William  Simpson. 


MANA   IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS     111 

first  tone  or  '  upper  monotone,'  though  it  really 
belongs  to  the  third  or  '  upper  falling  tone.'  " 
A  Chinese  work  explains  this  as  follows  :  There 
lived  in  the  third  century  B.C.  a  noted  Emperor 
who  assumed  the  title  of  She  Hwang-Ti.  He 
succeeded  to  the  throne  of  China  (T'sin)  at  the 
age  of  thirteen,  and,  following-up  the  career  of 
conquest  initiated  by  his  tutor,  he  was  able  to 
found  a  new  empire  on  the  ruins  of  the  Chinese 
feudal  system,  and  in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of 
his  reign  declared  himself  sole  master  of  the 
Chinese  Empire.  He  was  superstitious,  and  his 
desire  to  be  considered  great  shows  itself  in  the 
manner  in  which  he  destroyed  the  classics  of  his 
land,  that  his  name  might  be  handed  down  to 
posterity  as  the  first  Emperor  of  China.  His 
name  was  Ching,  and,  that  it  might  be  ever  held 
sacred,  he  commanded  that  the  syllable  ching 
be  tabooed.  Hence  the  change  in  pronunciation 
referred  to.^  The  vast  importance  attached  to 
this  taboo  is  brought  out  by  the  very  concessions 
which  have  been  allowed  of  late  years.  The 
modified  taboo  was  inaugurated  in  1846.  Under 
this  "  the  first  word  of  the  dissyllabic  private 
name  of  an  Emperor  is  not  to  be,  in  future,  in 
any  way  '  avoided,'  whilst  even  the  second 
character  may  be  used  in  contemporary  literature 
if  suitably  mutilated."  Thus  at  the  death  of  the 
1  Folk-lore  Record,  Vol.  IV.  p.  73. 


112  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

late  Emperor  the  character  P'u  was  allowed  to 
be  freely  used  by  all,  but  it  was  ordered  that  the 
character  I  (meaning  "  ceremony ")  should  be 
printed  minus  the  last  of  its  fifteen  strokes. 
"  Instantly  on  the  appearance  of  this  decree, 
T'ang  Shad-i  whose  '  i  '  happens  also  to  be  the 
second  half  of  the  new  Emperor's  name,  memorial- 
ized for  permission  to  change  this  character  for 
quite  another  '  I '  (being  the  I  of  '  I- Wo  '  or 
'  Jardine,  Matheson  &  Co.') ;  he  also  suggested 
that  all  the  letters  of  credence  to  the  nine  Powers 
he  was  visiting  should  be  written  accordingly."  ^ 
No  Korean  dare  utter  his  king's  name.  When  the 
king  dies  he  is  given  another  name,  by  which 
his  royal  personality  may  be  kept  clear  in  the 
mass  of  names  that  fill  history.  But  his  real 
name,  the  name  he  bears  in  life,  is  never  spoken 
save  in  the  secrecy  of  the  palace  harem.  And 
even  there  it  is  spoken  only  by  the  privileged  lips 
of  his  favourite  wife  and  his  most  spoiled  children.^ 
In  Madagascar  the  names  of  dead  rulers  are  also 
tabooed  :  a  new  name  is  given  them,  and  the 
old  name  must  not  be  pronounced  under  pain 
of  death.  Polack  says  that  from  a  New  Zealand 
chief  being  called  "  Wai,"  which  means  "  water," 
a  new  name  had  to  be  given  to  water.  A  chief 
was   called    "  Maripi,"   or   "  knife,"   and   knives 

^  Westminster  Gazette,  December  30,  1908. 
2  The  Times,  August  30,  1908. 


MANA  IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     113 

were  therefore  called  by  another  name,  "  nekra."  ^ 
"  In  the  tribe  of  the  Dwandes  there  was  a  chief 
named  Langa,  which  means  the  Sun  :    hence  the 
name  of  the  sun  was  changed  from  '  langa  '  to 
'  gala,'  and  so  remains  to  this  day,  though  Langa 
died    more    than    a    hundred    years    ago."  ^     In 
Tahiti,  when  a  chief  took  highest  rank,  any  words 
resembling  his   name  were  changed  :    "even  to 
call  a  horse  or  dog  '  prince  '  or  '  princess  '  was 
disgusting  to  the  native  mind."  ^     The  custom 
is  known  as  te  pi,  and,  in  the  case  of  a  king  whose 
name  was  Tu,  all  words  in  which  that  syllable 
occurred  were  changed  :    for  example,  fetu,  star, 
becoming  fetia ;  or  tui,  to  strike,  being  changed  to 
tiai.     Vancouver  observes  that  on  the  accession 
of  that  ruler,  which  took  place  between  his  own 
visit  and  that  of  Captain  Cook,  no  less  than  forty 
or  fifty  of  the  names  most  in  daily  use  had  been 
entirely  changed.     As  Professor  Max  Miillcr  in- 
geniously remarks,  "It  is  as  if  with  the  accession 
of  Queen  Victoria,  either  the  word  Victory  had 
been  tabooed  altogether,  or  only  part  of  it,  as 
tori,  so  as  to  make  it  high  treason  to  speak  of 
Tories  during  her  reign."     On  his  accession  to 
royalty,  the  name  of  the  king  of  the  Society  Islands 
was  changed,  and  anyone  uttering  the  old  name 

^  Early  Hist.  Mankind,  p.  147,  Sir  E.  B.  Tylor. 
*  Golden  Bough  »,  "Taboo,"  p.  377. 
^  Third  Voyage,  Vol.  II.  p.  170,  Captain  Cook. 
I 


114  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

was  put  to  death  with  all  his  relatives.  Death 
was  the  penalty  for  uttering  the  name  of  the  King 
of  Dahomey  in  his  presence;  his  name  was, 
indeed,  kept  secret  lest  the  knowledge  of  it  should 
enable  any  enemy  to  harm  him ;  hence  the  aliases 
— in  native  term,  "  strong  names,"  ^  by  which 
the  different  kings  have  been  known  to  Euro- 
peans. The  London  newspapers  of  June  1890 
reprinted  extracts  from  a  letter  in  the  Vossiche 
Zeitung  relating  the  adventures  of  Dr.  Bayol, 
Governor  of  Kotenon,  who  had  been  imprisoned 
by  the  King  of  Dahomey.  The  king  was  too 
suspicious  to  sign  the  letter  written  in  his  name 
to  the  President  of  the  French  Republic,  probably 
through  fear  that  M.  Carnot  might  bewitch  him 
through  it.^  An  interesting  comment  on  the 
foregoing  examples  is  supplied  by  a  painting  on 
the  temple  of  Rameses  II  at  Gurnah,  whereon 
Tum,  Safekht,  and  Thoth  are  depicted  as  inscrib- 
ing that  monarch's  name  on  the  sacred  tree  of 
Heliopolis,  by  which  act  he  was  endowed  with 
eternal  life.^ 

Concerning  the  names  of  exalted  persons,  a 
custom  probably  unique  obtains  among  the 
chiefs  of  the  Kwakiutl  Indians  of  using  two 
different  sets  of  names,  one  for  use  in  summer, 

^  Ewe-Speaking  Peoples,  p.  98,  Sir  A.  B.  Ellis. 

2  Science  of  Fairy  Tales,  p.  310,  E.  S.  Hartland,  LL.D. 

^  Beligion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians,  p.  156,  Dr.  Weidemann. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     115 

and  the  other  for  use  in  winter,  with  correspond- 
ing transformations  of  social  life,  determined  in 
winter  by  belief  in  clan  bogies;  the  ghosts  of 
the  tribe  moving  the  people  to  magic  dances 
with  disgusting  rites  of  initiation,  the  names 
then  used  being  taboo  in  summer.^ 

In  the  group  of  customs  hedging-in  the  royal 
person  and  his  belongings  there  lie  the  materials 
out  of  which  has  been  evolved  the  well-nigh 
obsolete  and  long  mischievous  theory  of  the  right 
divine  of  kings,  with  its  resulting  belief  in  their 
possession  of  powers  bordering  on  the  super- 
natural, as  in  the  curing  of  scrofula  by  their 
touch.  Wlien  Charles  I  visited  Scotland  in 
1633,  he  is  said  to  have  "  heallit  one  hundred 
persons  of  the  cruelles  or  Kings  eivell,  young  and 
olde,"  in  Holyrood  Chapel  on  St.  John's  day,^ 
and,  although  William  III  had  the  good  sense 
to  pooh-pooh  it,  it  was  not  until  the  reign  of 
George  I  that  the  custom  was  abolished. 

The  separation  of  the  priestly  and  kingly 
offices,  which  followed  the  gradual  subdivision 
of  functions  in  society,  tended  to  increase  the 
power  of  the  priest  in  the  degree  that  he  repre- 
sented the  kingdom  of  the  invisible  and  the 
dreaded,  and  held  the  keys  of  admission  therein. 
The  Cantonese  apply  the  expressive  term  "  god- 

1  Golden  Bough  =*,  "  Taboo,"  p.  386. 

*  Darker  Superstitions  of  Scotland,  p.  62,  Sir  J.  G.  Dalyell. 


116  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

boxes  "  to  priests,  because  the  god  is  believed  to 
dwell  in  them  from  time  to  time. 

The  king,  who  reigned  by  "  the  grace  of  God," 
as  the  term  goes  in  civilized  communities,  was 
consecrated  to  his  office  by  the  minister  of  God, 
and,  hence  there  could  not  fail  to  arise  the  con- 
flicts between  the  temporal  and  the  spiritual 
dignities  of  which  history  tells,  a  modern  example 
of  these  being  the  relations  between  the  Quirinal 
and  the  Vatican.  The  prerogatives  which  the 
Church  claimed  could  only  be  granted  by  the 
State  consenting  to  accept  a  position  of  vassalage 
illustrated  by  the  submission  of  Henry  IV  in 
the  courtyard  of  Gregory  VII  at  Canossa.  What- 
ever appertained  to  the  sacerdotal  office  reflected 
the  supreme  importance  of  its  functions;  the 
priest,  as  incarnation  of  the  god,  transferred  into 
his  own  person  that  which  had  secured  sanctity 
and  supremacy  to  the  priest -king,  and  the  king 
was  so  much  the  poorer.  The  supernatural 
power  which  the  priest  claimed  tended  to  isolate 
him  more  and  more  from  his  fellows,  and  place 
him  in  the  highest  caste,  whose  resulting  con- 
servatism and  opposition  to  all  challenge  of  its 
ridiculous  and  preposterous  claims  have  been 
among  the  chief  arresting  forces  in  human 
progress.  For  to  admit  that  these  claims  were 
open  to  question  would  have  been  fatal  to  the 
existence    of   the    priestly    order.      The    taboos 


MANA   IN  INTANGIBLE  THINGS     117 

guarding  and  regulating  the  life  of  the  priest- 
king  therefore  increase  in  rigidity  when  applied 
to  priest  and  shrine ;  and  how  persistent  they  are 
is  seen  in  the  feehng  amongst  the  highest  races 
that  the  maltreating  or  killing  of  a  priest  is  a 
gi-eatcr  crime  than  the  maltreating  or  kiUing  of 
a  layman,  and  that  the  robbery  of  a  church  is  a 
greater  offence  than  the  devouring  of  widows' 
houses. 

In  his  Social  Life  in  Britain  from  the  Conquest 
to  the  Reformatio?!,  Mr.  Coulton  quotes  as  follows 
from  an  Italian  Relation  of  England  drawn  up 
by  the  Venetian  Envoy  about  1500  a.d.  :  "  In 
another  way,  also,  the  priests  are  the  occasion 
of  crimes  in  that  they  have  usurped  a  privilege 
that  no  thief  or  murderer  who  can  read  should 
perish  by  the  hands  of  justice,  and  when  anyone 
is  condemned  to  death  by  the  sentence  of  the 
twelve  men  of  the  robe,  if  the  criminal  can  read, 
he  asks  to  defend  himself  by  the  book,  when  a 
psalter,  or  missal,  or  some  other  ecclesiastical 
book,  being  brought  to  him,  if  he  can  read  it 
he  is  liberated  from  the  power  of  the  law,  and 
given  as  a  clerk  into  the  hands  of  the  bishop."  ^ 
The  more  usual  test  verse  was  Psalm  li.  1  : 
"  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  God,  according  to 
thy  lovingkindncss ;  according  unto  the  multitude 
of  thy  tender  mercies  blot  out  my  transgressions," 

*  p.  41. 


118  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

It  was  called  the  "  neck  verse,"  because,  by 
reading  it,  the  culprit  could  save  his  neck.  On 
so  doing,  the  Ordinary  said,  "  Legit  ut  clericus  " 
— "  he  reads  like  a  clerk,"  and  the  man  was 
set  free.  It  was  not  till  1827  that  the  statute 
of  Benefit  of  Clergy,  after  undergoing  earlier 
modifications,  was  abolished. 

What  centuries  of  injustice  and  intolerable 
tyranny  cast  their  awful  shadow  on  Europe  when, 
under  "  benefit  of  clergy,"  ecclesiastics,  from 
popes  to  monks,  committed  nameless  crimes 
against  the  community  and  claimed  exemption 
from  trial  in  civil  courts  because  they  were  the 
Lord's  anointed.  The  laying  on  of  hands  by 
one  of  their  own  select  caste,  no  matter  in  what 
degree  he  was  a  man  of  loose  morals,  was  held 
to  confer  a  supernatural  character  on  the  ordained 
—be  he  thief,  lecher,  or  what  not.  For  their 
own  aggrandisement  they  were  maintaining  a 
superstition  cruel  at  the  core  :  offspring  of  the 
barbaric  assumption  that  the  chiefs  and  medicine- 
men of  the  tribe  were  gods  incarnate.  And  when- 
ever a  priest  of  the  National  Church  claims  to 
be  a  special  vehicle  of  grace,  it  is  well  to  remind 
him  that  he  is,  as  Lord  Houghton  wittily 
expressed  it,  "a  member  of  that  branch  of  the 
Civil  Service  which  is  called  the  Church  of 
England." 

Among  the  adventures  which  Lucian  puts  into 


MANA   IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS     119 

the  mouth  of  Lcxiphanes,  this  runs  as  follows  : 
"  The  first  I  met  was  a  torchbearcr,  a  hierophant 
and  other  of  the  initiated,  haling  Dinias  before 
the  judge  and  protesting  that  he  had  called  them 
by  their  names,  though  he  well  knew  that  from 
the  time  of  their  sanctification  they  were  name- 
less and  no  more  to  be  named  but  by  hallowed 
names."  ^  Thirteen  centuries  later,  in  his  Moria, 
Erasmus  launches  his  dart  against  "  the  theolo- 
gians who  required  to  be  addressed  as  Magister 
Noster.  You  must  not  say  Noster  Magister,  and 
you  must  be  careful  to  write  the  words  in  capital 
letters."  ^  "  Presbyter  is  but  old  priest  writ 
large,"  and  it  was  deemed  an  offence  among  the 
Scotch  clergy  of  the  seventeenth  century  to  take 
their  names  in  vain.  An  Assembly  of  the  Church 
in  1642  forbade  the  name  of  any  minister  to  be 
used  in  any  public  paper  unless  the  consent  of 
the  holy  man  had  been  previously  obtained.^ 

Royal  and  sacerdotal  taboos  have  increased 
force  when  applied  to  priests  in  their  ascending 
degrees  from  medicine-men  to  popes ;  and  perhaps 
one  of  the  most  striking  illustrations  of  this  is 
supplied  by  the  record  of  customs  attaching  to 
the  holy  and  hidden  name  of  the  priests  of 
Eleusis.     A  brief  account  of  this  may  close  the 

1  Lucian,  Vol.  II.  p.  267  (Fowler's  trans.). 

-  Froude's  Erasmus,  p.  140. 

3  Ilisionj  of  Civilization,  Vol.  III.  p.  310,  H.  T.  Buckle. 


120  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

references  to  name-avoidance  and  name-sub- 
stitution so  far  as  the  living  are  concerned. 

Some  years  ago  a  statue  of  one  of  these  hiero- 
phants  was  found  in  that  ancient  seat  of  "  the 
Venerable  Mysteries  of  Demeter,  the  most  solemn 
rites  of  the  Pagan  world."  The  inscription  on 
its  base  ran  thus  :  "  Ask  not  my  name,  the 
mystic  rule  (or  packet)  has  carried  it  away  into 
the  blue  sea.  But  when  I  reach  the  fated  day, 
and  go  to  the  abode  of  the  blest,  then  all  who  care 
for  me  will  pronounce  it."  When  the  priest  was 
dead,  his  sons  added  some  words,  of  which  only 
a  few  are  decipherable,  the  rest  being  mutilated. 
"  Now  we,  his  children,  reveal  the  name  of  the 
best  of  fathers,  which,  when  alive,  he  hid  in 
the  depths  of  the  sea.  This  is  the  famous 
Apollonius.  .  .  ."  ^ 

The  name  which  the  priest  thus  desired  should 
be  kept  secret  until  his  death  was  the  holy  name 
— usually  that  of  some  god — which  he  adopted 
on  taking  his  sacred  office.  Directly  he  assumed 
that  name,  it  was  probably  written  on  a  tablet, 
so  that,  as  symbol  of  its  secrecy,  it  might  be 
buried  in  the  depths  of  the  sea;  but  when  he 
went  "  to  the  abode  of  the  blest,"  it  was  "  pro- 
nounced," and  became  the  name  by  which  he 
was     known    to     posterity.      Some     interesting 

1  Trans.  International  Folk-lore  Congress,  1891.  "  The 
Holy  Names  of  the  Eley.sinian  Priests,"  p.  203,  W.  R.  Paton. 


MANA   IN  INTANGIBLE    THINGS     121 

questions  arise  out  of  the  ceremonies  attaching 
to  the  name-concealment.  Among  these,  the 
chief  one  is  the  committal  to  the  sea,  which  is 
probably  connected  with  lustration  rites;  a 
connection  further  evidenced  by  the  choice  of 
salt  instead  of  fresh  water.  The  custom  of  sending 
diseases  and  demons  out  to  sea  in  canoes  or  in 
toy  ships,  is  not  unknown  in  Malaysia  and  other 
parts ;  but  discussion  on  modes  of  transfer  and 
expulsion  of  evils  would  lead  us  too  far  afield, 
and  it  suffices  to  say  that,  in  this  custom  of  the 
Greek  priesthood,  there  was  a  survival  of  the 
barbaric  taboo  which  conceals  an  individual's 
name  for  the  same  reason  that  it  burns  or  buries 
his  material  belongings. 

(i)  Mana  in  Names  of  the  Bead. 

Passing  from  the  living  to  the  dead,  and  to 
spiritual  heings  generally,  we  find  the  power  of 
taboo  increased  in  the  degree  that  it  invests 
things  more  mysterious.  The  conflicting  be- 
haviour of  the  barbaric  mind  towards  ghosts 
and  all  their  kin  should  be  a  warning  to  the 
framers  of  cut-and-dried  theories  of  the  origin 
of  religion,  since  no  one  key  fits  the  complex 
wards  of  the  lock  opening  the  door  of  the  unseen. 
Sometimes  the  spirits  of  the  dead  are  tempted 
by  offerings  at  the  graves;  holes  are  cut  in  the 
rude  stone  tombs  to  let  them  out,  or  to  pass -in 
food  to  them ;  at  other  times,  all  sorts  of  devices 


122  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

are  adopted  to  prevent  them  from  finding  tlieir 
way  back  to  tlieir  old  haunts,  the  one  object 
being  to  "  lay  the  ghost."  While  memory  of 
them  abides,  a  large  number  receive  a  vague  sort 
of  worship  in  which  fear  is  the  chief  element, 
only  a  few  securing  such  renown  as  obtains  their 
promotion  to  the  ranks  of  godlings,  and,  by 
another  step  or  two,  of  gods.  Others  there  are 
for  whom  no  hope  of  deification  removes  the 
terrors  of  the  underworld ;  while  the  remainder, 
in  their  choice  of  evils,  would  accept  the  cheerless 
Hades  so  that  they  might  not  wander  as  unburied 
shades.  All  which  is  bewildering  enough  and 
fatal  to  any  uniformity  of  principle  ruling  con- 
ceptions of  another  life,  but  not  less  bewildering 
than  the  result  of  any  attempt  to  extract  from 
intelligent  people  who  believe  in  a  future  state 
some  coherent  idea  of  what  happens  to  the  soul 
between  death  and  the  day  of  judgement.  Vague 
and  contradictory  as  both  savage  and  civilised 
notions  on  these  matters  may  be,  there  is,  never- 
theless, at  the  base  a  common  feeling  that  prompts 
to  awe  and  hushed  tone  when  speaking  of  the 
dead.  "  It  is  safest  not  even  to  name  the  dead, 
lest  you  stir  their  swift  wrath  !  "  ^  This  "  avoid- 
ance of  the  actual  proper  name  of  a  dead  man 
is  an  instructive  delicate  decency  and  lives  on 

1  Prolegomena  to  the  Study  of  Greek  JReligion,  p.  60,  Jane 
E.  Harrison. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     123 

to-day.  The  newly  dead  becomes,  at  least  for 
a  time,  '  He  '  or  '  She,'  the  actual  name  is  felt 
too  intimate."  ^  To  quote  from  Mrs.  Barrett 
Browning's  "  Cowper's  Grave,"  he  is 

"  Named  softly  as  the  household  name  of  one  whom  God 
hath  taken." 

Among  a  large  number  of  barbaric  races  the 
dead  is  never  named,  because  to  do  so  is  to 
disturb  him  or  to  summon  him,  and  that  is 
the  last  thing  desired.  The  Stlatlum  tribes 
of  British  Columbia  will  not  utter  the  name 
of  a  dead  person  lest  his  ghost  or  spirit  is 
thereby  drawn  back  to  its  earthly  haunts.  This 
is  inimical  to  the  ghost,  and  to  the  person 
who,  in  warning  him,  invokes  his  return.  When 
any  member  of  a  tribe  died,  the  Tasmanians 
abstained  ever  after  from  mentioning  his  name, 
believing  that  to  do  so  would  bring  dire  calamities 
upon  them.  In  referring  to  such  an  one,  they 
would  use  great  circumlocution;  for  example, 
"  if  William  and  Mary,  husband  and  wife,  were 
both  dead,  and  Lucy,  the  deceased  sister  of 
William,  had  been  married  to  Isaac,  also  dead, 
whose  son  Jemmy  still  survived,  and  they  wished 
to  speak  of  Mary,"  they  would  say,  "  the  wife 
of  the  brother  of  Jemmy's  father's  wife."  So 
great  was  their  fear  of  offending  the  shade  of 

1  Prolegomena  to  the  Study  of  Greek  Religion,  p.  334, 


124  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

the  dead  by  naming  him,  that  they  took  every 
precaution  to  avoid  being  drawn  into  talk  about 
him  with  white  men.  And  that  reluctance  was 
extended  to  the  absent,  Backhouse  recording 
that  one  of  the  women  threw  sticks  at  J.  Thornton 
on  his  mentioning  her  son,  who  was  at  school 
at  Newtown.^  The  Tasmanian  circumlocution  is 
equalled  by  that  of  the  Australian  native  from 
whom  Dr.  Lang  tried  to  learn  the  name  of  a 
slain  relative.  "  He  told  me  who  the  lad's 
father  was,  who  was  his  brother,  what  he  was 
like,  how  he  walked,  how  he  held  his  tomahawk 
in  his  left  hand  instead  of  in  his  right,  and  who 
were  his  companions ;  but  the  dreaded  name 
never  escaped  his  lips,  and,  I  believe,  no  promises 
or  threats  could  have  induced  him  to  utter  it."  ^ 
Another  traveller  so  frightened  an  Australian 
black-fellow  by  shouting  out  the  name  of  a  dead 
friend  of  his  that  the  man  took  to  his  heels  and 
dared  not  to  show  himself  for  several  days.  On 
his  return  he  bitterly  reproached  the  traveller 
for  his  breach  of  taboo.  Lumholtz  remarks  that 
none  of  the  Australian  aborigines  "  utter  the 
names  of  the  dead,  lest  their  spirits  should  hear 
the  voices  of  the  living,  and  thus  discover  their 
whereabouts,"  ^  and  Sir  George  Grey  says  that 
the  only  modification  of  the  taboo  which  he  found 

*  The  Tasmanians,  p.  74,  H.  Ling  Roth. 

8  Queensland,  p.  367,  '  Among  Cannibals,  p.  278, 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS     125 

among  them  was  a  lessened  reluctance  to  utter 
the  name  of  anyone  who  had  been  dead  for  some 
time.^  In  barbaric  belief  widows  are  especially 
liable  to  be  haunted  by  their  dead  spouses,  which 
may  explain  why,  to  cite  an  example  nearer  home, 
a  Shetland  Island  widow  cannot  be  got  to  mention 
the  name  of  her  husband,  although  she  will  talk 
of  him  by  the  hour.^  No  dead  person  must  be 
mentioned,  for  his  ghost  will  come  to  him  who 
speaks  his  name.  Dorman  gives  a  touching 
illustration  of  this  superstition  in  the  Shawnee 
myth  of  Yellow  Sky.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
the  tribe,  and  had  dreams  which  told  her  that 
she  was  created  for  an  unheard-of  mission.  There 
was  a  mystery  about  her  being,  and  none  could 
comprehend  the  meaning  of  her  evening  songs. 
The  paths  leading  to  her  father's  lodge  were  more 
beaten  than  those  to  any  other.  On  one  condition 
alone  at  last  she  consented  to  become  a  wife, 
namely,  that  he  who  wedded  her  should  never 
mention  her  name.     If  he  did,  she  warned  him, 

^  Travels  in  N.W.  Australia,  Vol.  II.  p.  232. 

2  FMrly  History  of  Mankind,  p.  144.  Not  entirely  germane 
to  this  subject  as  bearing  on  the  belief  in  the  utterance  of 
the  husband's  name  by  his  widow,  is  a  story  told  in  Dr. 
Sidney  Hartland's  Ritual  and  Belief  {p.  209).  On  February 
16,  1912,  at  Macon  in  Georgia,  U.S.A.,  the  second  husband 
of  a  woman  was  actually  granted  a  divorce  on  the  ground 
that  the  ghost  of  her  first  husband  haunted  both  his  wife 
and  himself,  making  it  impossible  for  them  to  live  together. 


126  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

a  sad  calamity  would  befall  him,  and  he  would 
for  ever  thereafter  regret  his  thoughtlessness. 
After  a  time  Yellow  Sky  sickened  and  died,  and 
her  last  words  were  that  her  husband  might  never 
breathe  her  name.  For  five  summers  he  lived 
in  solitude,  but  one  day,  as  he  was  by  the  grave 
of  his  dead  wife,  an  Indian  asked  him  whose  it 
was,  and  in  forgetfulness  he  uttered  the  forbidden 
name.  He  fell  to  the  earth  in  great  pain,  and 
as  darkness  settled  round  about  him  a  change 
came  over  him.  Next  morning,  near  the  grave 
of  Yellow  Sky,  a  large  buck  was  quietly  feeding. 
It  was  the  unhappy  husband.^  Conversely,  in 
Swedish  folk-lore,  the  story  is  told  of  a  bride- 
groom and  his  friends  who  were  riding  through 
a  wood,  when  they  were  all  transformed  into 
wolves  by  evil  spirits.  After  the  lapse  of  years, 
the  forlorn  bride  was  walking  one  day  in  the 
same  forest,  and  in  anguish  of  heart,  as  she 
thought  of  her  lost  lover,  she  shrieked  out  his 
name.  Immediately  he  appeared  in  human  form 
and  rushed  into  her  arms.  The  sound  of  his 
Christian  name  had  dissolved  the  devihsh  spell 
that  bound  him.  Among  both  the  Chinook 
Indians  and  the  Lenguas  of  Brazil,  the  near 
relatives  of  the  deceased  changed  their  names, 
lest  the  spirit  should  be  drawn  back  to  earth  by 
hearing  the  old  name  used;  while  in  another 
^  Primitive  Superstitions ^  p.  155. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     127 

tribe,  "  if  one  calls  the  dead  by  name,  he  must 
answer  to  the  dead  man's  relatives.  He  must 
surrender  his  own  blood,  or  pay  blood-money  in 
restitution  of  the  life  of  the  dead  taken  by  him."  ^ 
The  Abipones  invented  new  words  for  anything 
whose  name  recalled  the  dead  person's  memory, 
while  to  utter  his  name  was  a  nefarious  proceed- 
ing; and  among  certain  northern  tribes,  when 
a  death  occurred,  if  a  relative  of  the  deceased 
was  absent,  his  friends  would  hang  along  the 
road  by  which  he  would  return  to  apprise  him 
of  the  fact,  so  that  he  might  not  mention  the 
dreaded  name  on  his  arrival.  Among  the  Con- 
necticut tribes,  if  the  offence  of  naming  the  dead 
was  twice  repeated,  death  was  not  regarded  as 
a  punishment  too  severe.  In  1655,  Philip,  having 
heard  that  another  Indian  had  spoken  the  name 
of  his  deceased  relative,  came  to  the  island  of 
Nantucket  to  kill  him,  and  the  English  had  to 
interfere  to  prevent  it.^  If  among  the  Californian 
tribes  the  name  of  the  dead  was  accidentally 
mentioned,  a  shudder  passed  over  those  present. 
An  aged  Indian  of  Lake  Michigan  explained  why 
tales  of  the  spirits  were  told  only  in  winter,  by 
saying  that  when  the  deep  snow  is  on  the  ground 
the  voices  of  those  who  repeat  their  names  are 
muffled,  but  that  in  summer  the  slightest  mention 

^  First  Report  of  American  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  204. 
-  Dorman,  p.  154. 


128  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

of  them  must  be  avoided,  lest  in  the  clear  air 
they  hear  their  own  names  and  are  offended.^ 
Among  the  Fuegians,  when  a  child  asks  for  its 
dead  father  or  mother,  it  will  be  reproved  and 
told  not  to  "  speak  bad  words  "  ;  and  the  Abi- 
pones,  to  whom  reference  has  just  been  made, 
will  use  some  periphrasis  for  the  dead,  as  "  the 
man  who  does  not  now  exist." 

Among  the  Melanesians  of  New  Guinea  the 
name  of  a  dead  man  is  banished  from  the  language. 
When  the  name  is  not  that  of  some  common 
object  no  difficulty  arises,  but  at  the  death  of 
a  person  named  after  something  of  everyday  use 
it  becomes  necessary  to  coin  a  new  word  for 
his  name-object,  and,  to  save  trouble,  they 
borrow  any  English  word  which  they  happen 
to  remember.  Thus  at  Wagawaga  a  water- 
vessel  is  now  called  "  Finish  " ;  a  large  bush 
knife,  in  all  innocence,  has  come  to  be  known 
as  a  "  Go  to  hell."  Certain  names  are  there 
believed  to  be  inhabited  by  a  familiar  malignant 
spirit  called  Labuni^  which  they  can  project  in 
the  form  of  a  shadow  against  anyone  whom  they 
desire  to  injure.  All  sickness  and  sudden  death 
are  ascribed  to  Labuni,  but  the  sorceress  is  too 
much  feared  to  be  in  danger  of  punishment. 
Mourning  is  a  very  serious  business  among  the 
Roro-speaking  tribes  of  the  south  coast.  Widows 
1  Schoolcraft,  Part  III.  p.  314. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     129 

are  bound  by  the  usual  elaborate  taboos  .  .  .  for 
the  first  few  weeks  a  widow  must  not  leave  her 
house  like  other  folk,  but  must  fling  herself  head- 
long from  her  front  door  and  roll  off  the  platform 
with  a  heavy  thud.^ 

Among  the  aboriginal  tribes  of  North  America, 
when  a  man  died,  the  elements  composing  his 
name  are  tabooed,  and  other  names  must  be 
instantly  conferred  on  the  things  denoted  by 
them.  Thus,  on  the  decease  of  chiefs  named 
"  Black  Hawk "  or  "  Roaring  Thunder,"  new 
words  must  be  invented  to  replace  "  black," 
"  hawk,"  "  roar,"  and  "  thunder."  It  is  easily 
seen  that  by  this  process  a  numerous  tribe  might, 
in  a  very  few  years,  easily  change  a  considerable 
portion  of  its  vocabulary.  The  Abipones,  accord- 
ing to  Dobrizhoffer,  entrusted  the  duty  of  invent- 
ing these  new  names,  as  occasion  required,  to 
their  old  women.  Three  times  in  seven  years, 
he  says,  it  happened  that  the  name  of  the  jaguar 
had  to  be  altered,  in  consequence  of  the  deaths 
of  persons  bearing  names  compounded  with  that 
of  this  animal.  Yet  this  very  illustration  shows 
that  it  was  by  no  means  necessary  in  every  case 
to  invent  an  absolutely  new  name,  for  that  last 
bestowed  on  the  jaguar  was  simply  an  adjective 
meaning  the  "  spotted  one."  Again,  if  the  name 
of  the  deceased  were  conferred  on  a  child  newly 

^  Melanesians  of  British  New  Guinea,  C.  G.  Seligman. 


130  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

born,  the  taboo  would  be  discharged;  for  the 
title  of  the  living  bearer  was  paramount  to  that 
of  the  deceased.  For  these  and  other  reasons  we 
are  disposed  to  attribute  little  substantial  impor- 
tance to  changes  in  language  arising  from  this 
cause.  The  general  principle  of  decay  and 
renewal,  above  indicated,  is  probably  sufficient 
in  itself  to  account  for  a  transformation  of  the 
substance  of  language  once  in  every  eighty  years 
or  thereabouts.^ 

My  friend,  the  late  Louis  Becke,  told  me  that 
"  in  the  olden  days  in  the  EUice  Islands,  it  was 
customary  to  always  speak  of  a  dead  man  by 
some  other  name  than  that  which  he  had  borne 
when  alive.  For  instance,  if  Kino,  who  in  life 
was  a  builder  of  canoes,  died,  he  would  perhaps 
be  spoken  of  as  traura  moli,  i.  e.  '  perfectly  fitting 
outrigger,'  to  denote  that  he  had  been  specially 
skilful  in  building  and  fitting  an  outrigger  to  a 
canoe.  He  would  never  be  spoken  of  as  Kino, 
though  his  son  or  grandson  might  bear  his  name 
hereditarily."  In  keeping  with  this  last  remark, 
among  the  Iroquois,  the  name  of  a  dead  man 
could  not  be  used  again  in  the  lifetime  of  his 
oldest  surviving  son  without  the  consent  of  the 
latter.  2  In  the  case  of  the  Masai  this  custom 
of  avoidance  of  the  name  of  the  dead,  qua  name, 

1  History  of  the  New  World,  Vol.  II.  p.  93,  E.  J.  Payne. 

2  Ancient  Society,  p.  79,  L.  H.  Morgan. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     131 

and  as  the  word  may  occur  otherwise  in  the 
language,  that  is,  as  it  were,  of  burying  the  name, 
shows  in  additionally  high  relief,  since  the  actual 
corpse  is  merely  cast  aside  as  a  thing  of  naught.* 

To  this  list  might  be  added  examples  of  like 
name-avoidance  of  the  dead  among  Ostiaks, 
Ainu,  Samoyeds,  Papuans,  Solomon  Islanders, 
and  numerous  other  peoples  at  corresponding  low 
levels  of  culture,  but  that  addition  would  only 
lend  superfluous  strength  to  world-wide  evidence 
of  a  practice  whose  motive  is  clear,  and  whose 
interest  for  us  chiefly  lies  in  its  witness  to  the 
like  attitude  of  the  human  mind  before  the 
mystery  of  the  hereafter. 

(j)  Mana  in  the  Names  of  Gods. 

As  with  the  names  of  the  lesser  hierarchy  of 
spirits,  so  with  the  name  of  a  god ;  but  with  the 
added  significance  which  deity  imports.  To  know 
it,  is  to  enable  the  utterer  to  invoke  him.  More- 
over, it  enables  the  human  to  enter  into  close 
communion  with  the  divine,  even  to  obtain 
power  over  the  god  himself. 

"  The  Ineffable  Name  of  God  and  the  fear  of 
pronouncing  it  can  be  traced  to  a  comparatively 
remote  antiquity.  ...  If  anyone  knows  that 
Name  when  he  goes  out  of  the  material  body, 
neither  smoke  nor  darkness,  neither  archon, 
angel  or  archangel  would  be  able   to    hurt    the 

*  The  Masai :   their  Language  and  Folk-lore,  A.  C.  HoUis. 


132  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

soul  that  knows  that  Name."  ^     Hence  the  refusal 

of  the  god  to  tell  his  name,  and  of  the  devices 

employed  to  discover  it.     On  the  other  hand,  the 

feeling  that  the  god  is  jealous  of  his  name,  and 

full  of  threatenings  against  those  who  take  it  in 

vain,  gives  rise  to  the  employment  of  some  other 

name.     But,  whatever  may  be  the  attitude  of 

the  worshipper,  there  is  belief  in  the  power  of 

the  name,  and  in  virtues  inhering  therein.     The 

gods  whom  man  worships  with  bloody  rites  are 

made  in  his  own  image,  and  the  names  given 

them  which  he  dreads  to  pronounce  are  his  own 

coinage.     But  the  lapse  of  time,  ever  investing 

with  mystery  that  which  is  withdrawn  or  receding, 

and   the   stupendous   force    of  tradition,    which 

transmutes   the   ordinary   into   the   exceptional, 

explain  the   paradox.     And  any  survey  of  the 

confusion  between  persons  and  things  supplies 

such  illustration  of  the  vagaries  of  the  human 

mind  at  the  barbaric  stage  that  we  cease  to  look 

for    logical    sequence    in    its    behaviour.     Even 

where  we  might  feel  warranted  in  expecting  a 

certain  consistency,   or  a  certain  perception  of 

fundamental    differences,    we    find    the    insight 

lacking.     Here,  too,  tradition  asserts  its  power; 

we  see  how  superficial  are  the  changes  in  human 

nature  as  a  whole,  and  in  what  small  degree  the 

*  The  Sword  of  Moses  {An  Ancient  Book  of  Magic),  pp.  7, 
14.     Translated  by  Dr.  M.  Gaster. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     133 

*'  old   Adam "    has    been   cast    out.     A   striking 

illustration  of  the  belief  in  the  power  over  the 

god  which  mortals  may  secure  by  knowledge  of 

his  name  is  supplied  by  the  concealment  of  the 

name  of  the  tutelary  deity  of  Rome.     Plutarch 

asks,    "  How   commeth   it   to   passe,   that   it   is 

expressly  forbidden  at  Rome,  either  to  name  or 

to  demaund  ought  as  touching  the  Tutelar  god, 

who    hath    in    particular    recommendation    and 

patronage   the   safetie   and   preservation   of  the 

citie ;   not  so  much  as  to  enquire  whether  the  said 

deitie    be    male    or    female  ?     And    verely   this 

prohibition  proceedeth  from  a  superstitious  feare 

that  they  have,  for  that  they  say,  that  Valerius 

Soranus  died  an  ill  death  because  he  presumed  to 

utter  and  publish  so  much."  ^     Plutarch's  answer 

shows   more   approach  to  the  true   explanation 

than  is  his  wont.     He  continues  the  interrogative 

strain  :  "  Is  it  in  regard  of  a  certain  reason  that 

some  Latin  historians  do  alledge;    namely,  that 

there  be  certaine  evocations  and  enchantings  of 

the  gods  by  spels  and  charmes,  through  the  power 

whereof  they  are  of  opinion  that  they  might  be 

able  to  call  forth  and  draw  away  the  Tutelar 

gods   of  their  enemies,   and   to   cause   them   to 

come  and  dwell  with  them;    and  therefore  the 

Romans  be  afraid  lest  they  may  do  as  much  for 

1  Romane    Questions,     61     (Bibliotheque     de    Carabas). 
Edited  by  Prof.  F.  B.  Jevons. 


134  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

them?  For,  like  as  in  times  past  the  Tyrians, 
as  we  find  upon  record,  when  their  citie  was 
besieged,  enchained  the  images  of  their  gods  to 
their  shrines  ^  for  feare  they  would  abandon 
their  citie  and  be  gone,  and  as  others  demanded 
pledges  and  sureties  that  they  should  come 
againe  to  their  place,  whensoever  they  sent  them 
to  any  bath  to  be  washed,  or  let  them  go  to  any 
expiation  to  be  cleansed;  even  so  the  Romans 
thought,  that  to  be  altogether  unknowen  and 
not  once  named,  was  the  best  means,  and  surest 
way  to  keepe  with  their  Tutelar  god."  ^  Accord- 
ing to  Macrobius,  this  deity  was  Ops  Consivia, 
the  god  of  sowing,  who  would  naturally  be 
revered  by  an  agricultural  people.^  Pliny  says 
that  Verrius  Flaccus  quotes  authors,  whom  he 
thinks  trustworthy,  to  the  effect  that  when  the 
Romans  laid  siege  to  a  town,  the  first  step  was 
for  the  priests  to  summon  the  guardian  god  of 
the  place,  and  to  offer  him  the  same  or  a  greater 
place  in  the  Roman  pantheon.  This  practice, 
Pliny  adds,  still  remains  in  the  pontifical  dis- 
cipline, and  it  is  certainly  for  this  reason  that  the 
name  of  the  god  under  whose  protection  Rome 
itself  has  been  is  kept  secret,  lest  its  enemies 
should  use  like  tactics. 

^  On  the  custom  of  binding  gods,  see  article  by  William 
Crooke,  Folk-lore,  1897,  pp.  325-55. 

-  Plutarch,  61. 

3  Hibbert  Journal,  January  1915,  article  by  Prof.  H.  A. 
Strong. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     135 

The  belief  that  the  name  belongs  to  the  essence 
of  the  personality  explains  the  curious  formula 
in  the  Umbrian  prayer  preserved  in  the  Tabulce 
Iguvince  where  the  god  Gabrovius  is  implored 
to  be  propitious  to  Arx  Fisia  and  to  "  the  name 
of  the  Arx  Fisia,"  as  the  name  of  the  city  was  a 
living  and  independent  entity.  ^  In  his  Magie 
Assyrienne,  M.  Fossy  says  that  the  Assyrians 
believed  that  every  city  of  importance  had  a 
secret  name  which  must  be  conjured  before  an 
enemy  could  take  it.  Rabelais  tells  the  story 
that  when  Alexander  the  Great  besieged  Tyre 
the  name  of  the  city  was  revealed  to  him  in  a 
dream,  i.  e.  its  secret  name.^  To  this  day  the 
Cheremiss  tribes  of  the  Caucasus  keep  the  names 
of  their  communal  villages  secret  from  motives 
of  superstition.^ 

In  old  Latium,  the  pontificcs  endeavoured  to 
conceal  the  true  names  of  the  gods  lest  they 
might  be  wrongly  used  for  unauthorized  pur- 
poses. The  greater  gods  of  the  Roman  pantheon 
were  of  foreign  origin ;  the  religion  of  the  Romans 
was  wholly  designed  for  use  in  practical  life,  and 
the  gods  who  ruled  human  affairs  in  minutest 
detail  from  the  hour  of  birth  to  that  of  death 
and  burial  were  shapeless  abstractions.  Cunina 
was  the  guardian  spirit  of  the  cradle;    Rumina, 

^  Evolntion  of  Religion,  p.  186,  L,  R.  Farnell. 

2  Bk.  IV.  371. 

3  Golden  Bough  \  "  Taboo,"  p.  391. 


136  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

the  spirit  of  suckling;  Educa  and  Potina,  the 
spirits  of  eating  and  drinking,  watched  over  the 
child  at  home ;  Abeona  and  Itcrduca,  the  spirits 
of  departing  and  travelling,  attended  him  on 
his  journey;  Adeona  and  Domiduca,  the  spirits 
of  approaching  and  arrival,  brought  him  home 
again.  The  threshold,  the  door,  and  the  hinges, 
each  had  its  attendant  spirit,  Limertinus,  For- 
culus,  and  Cardea;  while  Janus  presided  over 
door-openings,  guarding  the  household  from  evil 
spirits.  Agriculture  being  the  main  occupation, 
there  were  spirits  of  harrowing,  ploughing,  sowing, 
harvesting,  and  threshing;  while  Pecunia,  the 
spirit  of  money,  attended  the  trader,  and  Por- 
tunus,  the  harbour-spirit,  guided  the  merchant 
vessel  safe  to  port.  These  vague  numina  are 
known  as  "  Di  Indigetes,"  and  it  was  part  of 
the  duty  of  the  pontiffs  to  keep  a  complete 
register  of  them  on  lists  called  indigitamenta. 
Our  interest  here  lies  in  the  fact  that  they 
show  how  little,  if  at  all,  the  ancient  Roman 
was  above  the  savage,  because  he  believed  that 
it  was  sufficient  to  utter  the  names  of  anyone 
of  the  Di  Indigetes  to  secure  its  presence  and 
protection.  Hence  the  importance  of  omitting 
the  name  of  no  spirit  from  the  pontifical  lists.^ 

^  History  of  Rome,  Vol.  I.  p.  120,  W.  Ihne;  History  of 
Rome,  Vol.  I.  pp.  34,  111,  T.  Mommsen;  Introduction  to 
Jevons's  edition  of  Romane  Questions,  p.  vii;  Worship  of 
the  Romans,  p.  134,  F.  Grainger. 


MANA   IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS     137 

Cicero  says  that  there  was  a  god,  the  son  of 
Nilus,  to  pronounce  whose  name  was  forbidden, 
and  relvictance  to  pronounce  the  proper  personal 
name  of  the  god  is  found  among  the  ancient 
Greeks,  euphemisms  being  used,  as,  e.  g.,  for 
Persephone  and  Hades.  "  Persephone  is  ad- 
dressed as  Despoina,  '  The  Mistress,'  or  as 
Hague,  the  '  Holy  One,'  and  Hades  as  Plouton, 
'  The  Wealthy  One.'  The  power  of  the  divine 
name  was  transcended  in  ancient  religions."  ^ 
Behind  the  sun-worship  of  the  ancient  Peruvians 
was  that  of  Pachacamac,  whose  name  was  too 
sacred  to  be  taken  into  their  mouths.  Among 
the  Penitential  Psalms  of  the  Babylonian  scrip- 
tures, which,  in  the  opinion  of  Professor  Sayce, 
date  from  Accadian  times,  and  which,  in  their 
depth  of  feeling  and  dignity,  bear  comparison 
with  the  Psalms  of  the  Hebrews,  we  find  the 
worshipper  pleading — 

"  How  long,  O  god,  whom  I  know,  and  know  not,  shall  the 

fierceness  of  thy  heart  continue  ? 
How  long,  O  goddess,  whom  I  know,  and  know  not,  shall 

thy  heart  in  his  hostility  be  (not)  appeased  ? 
Mankind    is  made   to   wander,   and   there  is  none   that 

knowcth ; 
Mankind,  as  many  as  pronounce  a  name,  what  do  they 

know?" 

Upon  which  Professor  Sayce  remarks  :  "  The 
belief  in  the  mysterious  power  of  names  is  still 

»  Cults  of  the  Greek  States,  Vol.  HI.  pp.  137,  293,  L.  R. 
Farnell. 


138  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

strong  upon  him.     In  fear  lest  the  deity  he  has 

offended   should    not   be    named  at   all,    or   else 

be  named  incorrectly,    he   does   not   venture  to 

enumerate  the  gods,  but  classes  them  under  the 

comprehensive  titles  of  the  divinities  with  whose 

names  he  is  acquainted,  and  of  those  of  whose 

names  he  is  ignorant.     It  is  the  same  when  he 

refers    to    the    human    race.     Here,    again,    the 

ancient    superstition    about    words    shows    itself 

plainly.     If    he    alludes    to    mankind,    it    is    to 

'  mankind  as   many  as   pronounce   a   name,'  as 

many,   that  is,   as   have   names   which   may  be 

pronounced."  ^ 

The  modern  worshipper  is  nearer  to  the  ancient 

Roman  and  Chaldean,  and  to  the  barbarian  of 

past  and  present  time,  than  he  suspects.     Every 

religious  assembly — for  even  sects  who,  like  the 

Quakers,  eschew  all  ritual,  break  the  silence  of 

their   gatherings   when   the    "  spirit   moveth  " — 

invokes  the  Deity  in  the  feeling  that  thereby  His 

nearer  presence  is  the  more  assured.     So  that  the 

line  between  the  lower  and  the  higher  civilization 

is  hard  to  draw  in  this  matter.     And  although 

undue  stress  might  be  laid  on  certain  passages 

in  the  Bible  which  convey  the  idea  of  the  integral 

relation  between  the  Deity  and  his  name,  it  is 

not  to  be  questioned  that  the  efficacy  of  certain 

^  Hibbert  Lectures  on  Babylonian  Religion^  1887,  pp.  350, 
358. 


MANA   IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS     139 

rites,  notably  that  of  baptism  and  of  exorcism 
or  the  casting-out  of  demons,  would  be  doubted 
if  the  name  of  the  Deity  were  omitted  or  mis- 
pronounced. In  an  Assyrian  text  belonging  to 
the  period  of  Asarhaddon  (680  B.C.)  *'  the  king 
who  is  consulting  the  sun-god  concerning  success 
in  a  war  into  which  he  is  threatened,  prays  that 
the  ritual  which  the  enemy  may  be  employing 
may  go  wrong  and  fail  "  and  in  this  contest  occurs 
the  curious  petition,  "  May  the  lips  of  the  priest's 
son  hurry  and  stumble  over  a  word.  The  idea 
seems  to  be  that  a  single  slip  in  the  ritual- 
formulae  destroyed  their  whole  value."  ^ 

In  Roman  Catholic  ritual  the  Host  cannot  be 
effectually  consecrated  if  the  four  words.  Hoc 
est  corpus  meum,  are  not  correctly  pronounced. 
"  The  bread  and  wine  are  changed  into  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ  when  the  words  of  consecra- 
tion ordained  by  Jesus  Christ  are  pronounced  by 
the  priest  in  Holy  Mass."  ^  A  clearer  illustration 
of  mana  as  word-power  could  not  be  found.  It 
is  the  same  with  every  act  by  which  approach  is 
made   to,   and   communion  sought  with,    deity. 

*  Greece  and  Babylon,  p.  297,  Dr.  L.  R.  Farnell. 
"  There's  a  great  text  in  Galatians, 
Once  you  trip  on  it,  entails 
Twenty-nine  distinct  damnations, 

One  sure,  if  the  other  fails." 
Soliloquy  of  the  Spanish  Cloister,  VII.,  Browning. 
^  Catechism  of  Christian  Doctrine,  p.  49  (Burns  and  Oates). 


140  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

In  Abyssinia  the  formula  "  In  the  Name  of  the 
Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost " 
is  used  as  a  spell  by  itself.  So  it  is  with  the 
Moslems,  "  In  the  Name  of  God,  the  Compas- 
sionate, the  Merciful."  The  mana  is  in  the 
Name.  Without  its  invocation,  prayer  would 
be  in  vain  :  mana  speeds  it  home.  '*  Though  the 
modern  consciousness  may  often  be  unaware  of 
this  mystic  function  of  the  formula,  we  may 
believe  that  it  was  more  clearly  recognized  in 
the  early  days  of  Christianity,  for  in  the  apoc- 
ryphal acts  of  St.  John  we  find  a  long  list  of 
mystical  names  and  titles  attached  to  Christ, 
giving  to  the  prayer  much  of  the  tone  of  an 
enchantment."  ^  The  mana  in  the  Lord's  Prayer 
is  "  Hallowed  be  thy  Namey  It  was  believed 
that  the  mediaeval  devil,  Titival,  collected  misread 
fragments  of  the  Divine  Service,  and  carried  them 
to  hell  to  be  registered  against  the  offender. 

To  return  to  our  immediate  subject,  that  the 
gods  of  the  higher  religions,  or  their  representa- 
tives, are  described  as  reluctant  to  tell  their 
names,  and  as  yielding  only  through  strategy 
or  cunning,  is  in  keeping  with  barbaric  con- 
ceptions. In  the  Book  of  Judges,  xiii.  17,  18, 
we  read  that  "  Manoah  said  unto  the  angel  of 
the   Lord,   What  is   thy   name,   that  when  thy 

^  Evolution  of  Religion,  p.  190,  Farnell.  And  see  Thresh- 
old of  Religion,  chapter  on  "  Spell  to  Prayer,"  R.  Marett. 


MANA  IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS     141 

sayings  come  to  pass  we  may  do  thee  honour? 
And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  Why 
askest  thou  thus  after  my  name,  seeing  it  is 
secret  ?  "  (or  "  wonderful,"  as  in  the  margin  of 
the  Authorized  Version).  Leviticus  xxiv.  16, 
"  He  that  blasphemeth  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
he  shall  surely  be  put  to  death,  and  all  the  con- 
gregation shall  certainly  stone  him :  as  well  the 
stranger,  as  he  that  is  born  in  the  land,  when  he 
blasphemeth  the  name  of  the  Lord,  shall  be  put 
to  death,"  and  the  third  commandment  in  the 
Ten  Words,  "  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of 
the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain ;  for  the  Lord  will  not 
hold  him  guiltless  that  taketh  his  name  in  vain  " 
(Exod.  XX.  7),  are  sometimes  cited  as  the  warrant 
for  the  avoidance  of  the  "  holy  and  reverend  " 
name  Yahwe,  or  Jehovah;  but  perhaps  the 
influence  of  Oriental  metaphysics  on  the  Jews, 
coupled  with  the  persistence  of  barbaric  ideas 
about  names,  may  have  led  to  a  substitution 
which  appears  to  have  been  post-exilian. 
"  Adonai  "  and  "  Elohim  "  are  sometimes  used 
in  the  place  of  Yahwe,  but  more  often  the  god 
is  anonymous,  "  the  name "  being  the  phrase 
adopted.  A  doubtful  tradition  says  that  "  Je- 
hovah "  was  uttered  but  once  a  year  by  the  high 
priest  on  the  Day  of  Atonement  when  he  entered 
the  Holy  of  Holies,  and,  according  to  Maimonides, 
it  was  spoken  for  the  last  time  by  Simon  the 


142  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

Just  (circa  270  B.C.).  "  Philo,  on  the  other  hand, 
declares  simply  that  it  was  pronounced  only  in 
the  sacred  precincts,  and  according  to  the  Jeru- 
salem Talmud  it  was  lawful  down  to  the  very 
end  for  the  high  priest  to  pronounce  it — though, 
finally,  only  below  his  breath — in  the  ceremonial 
of  the  Day  of  Atonement.  As  late  as  a.d.  130 
Abba  Shaul  denied  eternal  bliss  to  anyone  who 
should  pronounce  the  sacred  name  with  its  actual 
consonants . "  ^  "  The  cruel  death  which  R.  Hanina 
b.  Teradion  suffered  in  the  Hadrian  persecution 
was  accounted  for  as  a  punishment  for  pro- 
nouncing that  name."  ^  To  quote  Rabelais,  "  If 
time  would  permit  us  to  discourse  of  the  sacred 
Hebrew  writ,  we  might  find  a  hundred  noted 
passages  evidently  showing  how  religiously  they 
observed  proper  names  in  their  significance."  ^ 

In  the   Toldoth  Jeshu,  a  pseudo-life  of  Jesus 
of   Jewish   compilation,    there    are   two   legends 
concerning  the  Unutterable  Name.     One  relate 
that  this  name  was  engraved  on  the  corner-stone 
of  the   Temple.     "  For  when   King  David   dug 

*  Encyclop.  Biblica,  p.  3321. 

2  Hastings's  Ency.  Religion  and  Ethics,  Vol.  VI.  p.  296: 
"  Ask  a  Talmudist  what  ails  the  modesty  of  his  marginal 
Keri  that  Moses  and  all  the  prophets  cannot  persuade  him 
to  pronounce  the  textual  Chetiv." — Milton's  Areopagitica, 
p.  23.  [Chetiv  means,  read  Adonai  in  place  of  Yahwe — 
the  unspeakable  name.] 

3  Bk.  IV.  37. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     143 

the  foundations  he  found  there  a  stone  on  which 
the  Name  of  God  was  graven,  and  he  took  it  and 
placed  it  in  the  Holy  of  Holies.  But  as  the  wise 
men  feared  lest  some  ignorant  youth  should 
learn  the  name  and  be  able  to  destroy  the  world 
— which  God  avert  ! — they  made  by  magic  two 
brazen  lions,  which  they  set  before  the  entrance 
of  the  Holy  of  Holies,  one  on  the  right,  the  other 
on  the  left.  Now,  if  anyone  were  to  go  within 
and  learn  the  holy  Name,  then  the  lions  would 
begin  to  roar  as  he  came  out,  so  that  from  alarm 
and  bewilderment  he  would  lose  his  presence  of 
mind  and  forget  the  Name. 

Now  Jeshu  left  Upper  Galilee  and  came 
secretly  to  Jerusalem,  and  he  went  into  the 
Temple,  and  learned  there  the  holy  writing; 
and  after  he  had  written  the  incommunicable 
Name  on  parchment  he  uttered  it,  with  intent 
that  he  might  feel  no  pain,  and  then  he  cut  into 
his  flesh  and  hid  the  parchment  with  its  inscrip- 
tion thereon.  Then  he  uttered  the  Name  once 
more,  and  made  so  that  his  flesh  healed  up 
again.  And  when  he  went  out  at  the  door  the 
lions  roared,  and  he  forgot  the  Name.  Therefore 
he  hasted  outside  the  town,  cut  into  his  flesh, 
took  the  writing  out,  and  when  he  had  studied 
the  signs  he  retained  the  Name  in  his  memory."  ^ 

1  The  Lost  and  Hostile  Gospels,  pp.  77,  78,  S.  Baring- 
Gould. 


144  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

The  second  legend,  which  tells  of  an  aerial 
conflict  between  Jeshu  and  Judas  before  Queen 
Helena  (!),  says  that  "  when  Jeshu  had  spoken 
the  incommunicable  Name,  there  came  a  wind 
and  raised  him  between  heaven  and  earth. 
Thereupon  Judas  spake  the  same  Name,  and  the 
wind  raised  him  also  between  heaven  and  earth. 
And  they  flew,  both  of  them,  around  in  the  regions 
of  the  air,  and  all  who  saw  it  marvelled.  Judas 
then  spake  again  the  Name,  and  seized  Jeshu 
and  sought  to  cast  him  to  the  earth.  But  Jeshu 
also  spake  the  Name,  and  sought  to  cast  Judas 
down,  and  they  strove  one  with  the  other." 
Ultimately  Judas  prevails,  and  casts  Jeshu  to 
the  ground,  and  the  elders  seize  him;  his  power 
leaves  him;  and  he  is  subjected  to  the  tauntings 
of  his  captors.  Being  rescued  by  his  disciples, 
he  hastened  to  the  Jordan;  and  when  he  had 
washed  therein  his  power  returned  and  with  the 
Name  he  again  wrought  his  former  miracles.^ 

As  recently  as  1913,  the  Eastern  Church  was 
agitated  by  the  publication  of  a  book  by  a  monk 
named  Ilarion  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Pantele- 
mon,  on  Mount  Athos,  in  which  he  puts  forward 
the  theory  that  the  Name  of  God  is  an  integral 
part  of  God,  and,  therefore,  itself  divine.  Arch- 
bishop Nikon,  the  special  emissary  of  the  Holy 
Synod,  denounced  the  book  as  heretical,  and  the 
1  The  Lost  and  Hostile  Gospels,  p.  83. 


MANA   IN  INTANGIBLE   THINGS     145 

Synod,  after  resolving  that  the  heresy  should  be 
known  in  future  as  the  "  Heresy  of  God's  Name," 
condemned  the  book  as  pestilential.  Civil  war 
broke  out  in  the  monasteries  of  St.  Pantelemon 
and  St.  Andrew,  with  the  result  that  the  con- 
tumacious followers  of  Ilarion,  numbering  about 
six  hundred,  were  ousted  by  Russian  soldiers 
and  sent,  some  to  prison,  and  the  rest  to  exile 
(the  larger  number  into  further  Siberia)  to  derive 
such  consolation  as  they  could  from  contemplation 
on  the  divinity  of  a  word. 

Tradition  and  Scripture  are  on  their  side. 
"  Israelitish  thinkers  and  writers  never  allow  us  to 
think  that  the  name  of  Yahwe  (Jehovah)  is  a 
separate  divine  being  from  Yahwe."  ^  Ilarion 
could  cite  Ps.  liv.  1  :  "  Save  me,  O  God,  by  thy 
name  " ;  the  passage  in  Isa.  xxx.  27,  "  Behold  the 
name  of  the  Lord  cometh  from  far,  burning  with 
his  anger  .  .  .  his  lips  are  full  of  indignation  and 
his  tongue  as  a  devouring  fire  " ;  also  the  passage 
in  Jcr.  vii.  12,  that  "  Yahwe  had  caused  his 
name  to  dwell  at  the  first  in  his  place  at  Shiloh." 

Lane  says  that  it  is  a  Moslem  belief  that  the 
prophets  and  apostles  to  whom  alone  is  com- 
mitted the  secret  of  the  Most  Great  Name  of  God 
(El-Izm-el-Aazam)  can  by  pronouncing  it  trans- 

^  Encyclop.  Biblica,  p.  3268 :  "  Nee  nomen  Deo  queeras, 
Deus  nomen  est  "  (Nor  need  you  seek  a  name  for  God ; 
God  is  his  Name). — Minucius  Felix,  Octavius. 

L 


146  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

port  themselves  (as  on  Solomon's  magic  carpet, 
spun  for  him  by  the  jinn)  from  place  to  place  at 
will ;  can  kill  the  living,  raise  the  dead,  and  work 
other  miracles. 1  By  virtue  of  this  name,  which 
was  engraved  on  his  seal-ring,  Solomon,  or 
Suleyman,  subjected  the  birds  and  the  winds, 
and,  with  one  exception,  all  the  jinn,  whom  he 
compelled  to  help  in  the  building  of  the  Temple 
at  Jerusalem.  By  pronouncing  it,  his  minister 
Asaf  was  transported  in  a  moment  to  the  royal 
presence.  Sakkr  was  the  genie  who  remained 
unsubdued,  and  one  day  when  the  Wise  King, 
taking  a  bath,  intrusted  the  wonderful  ring  to 
one  of  his  paramours,  the  demon  assumed  Solo- 
mon's form,  and,  securing  possession  of  the  magic 
jewel,  usurped  the  throne,  while  the  king,  whose 
appearance  was  forthwith  changed  to  that  of  a 
beggar,  became  a  wanderer  in  his  own  realm. 
After  long  years  the  ring  was  found  in  the  stomach 
of  a  fish,  Sakkr  having  thrown  it  away  on  his 
detection,  and  so  Solomon  "  came  to  his  own 
again."  ^ 

Damascus  was  an  important  centre  of  the 
worship  of  Hadad,  surnamed  Ramman,  "  the 
Thunderer."  Of  the  latter  title,  to  avoid  the 
light  use  of  a  sacred-name,  Rimmon  was  an 
intentional  perversion  through  a  change  easy  in 

1  Modern  Egyptians,  Vol.  I.  p.  361. 

"  Group  of  Eastern  Romances,  p.  163,  W.  A.  Clouston. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     147 

the  consonantal  Semitic  tongue.^  In  their  Cradle 
of  Mankind,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wigram  give  a  modern 
example  of  Moslem  dread  of  the  divine  Name. 
"  Leaving  Aleppo,  we  found  the  ground  scat- 
tered with  great  squared  blocks  of  stone  rudely 
incised  ...  a  householder  who  saw  us  examining 
them  led  us  to  the  door  of  his  hut  where  he  showed 
us  another  inscription.  In  this  case  the  lettering 
was  Ai-abic  and  we  could  read  no  more  than  the 
name  of  Allah— a  fact  which  caused  great  con- 
sternation to  the  householder,  for  he  had  been 
using  it  as  a  threshold."  "  Melck  Taud,  the 
King  of  the  Peacocks,  is  the  Yezedi  euphemism 
for  Sheitair  (the  God  of  the  Christians,  Moslems 
and  Jews),  who,  of  course,  must  never  be  referred 
to  by  the  latter  disparaging  name."  ^ 

In  that  great  home  of  magic,  Chaldea,  effective 
as  were  the  qualities  ascribed  to  magic  knots, 
amulets,  drugs,  and  the  great  body  of  mystic 
rites  connected  with  their  use,  as  also  to  con- 
juring by  numbers,  incantations,  and  so  forth, 
all  these  yielded  to  the  power  of  the  god's  name. 
Before  that  everything  in  heaven,  earth,  and  the 
underworld  bowed,  while  it  enthralled  the  gods 
themselves.  In  the  legend  of  the  descent  of 
Ishtar  to  the  underworld,  when  the  goddess 
Allat,  the  Proserpine  of  Babylonian  mythology, 

*  Syria  as  a  Roman  Province,  p.  123,  G.  Bouchier. 
2  pp.  8,  98. 


148  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

takes  her  captive,  the  gods  make  vain  effort  to 
deliver  her,  and  in  their  despair  beg  Ea  to  break 
the  spell  that  holds  her  fast.  Then  Ea  forms 
the  figm-e  of  a  man,  who  presents  himself  at  the 
door  of  Hades,  and  awing  Allat  with  the  names 
of  the  mighty  gods,  still  keeping  the  great  name 
secret,  Ishtar  is  delivered.^ 

Inscriptions  discovered  at  Byblus  never  men- 
tion Adonis  by  name;  he  is  "the  highest,"  or 
the  "  satrap  god,"  while  the  name  of  Marduk, 
mightiest  of  the  gods,  is  declared  ineffable. 

The  great  gods  of  the  limitless  Hindu  pantheon, 
Brahma,  Vishnu  and  Siva,  have  as  their  symbol 
the  mystic  Om  or  Aum,  the  repetition  of  which 
is  believed  to  be  all-efficacious  in  giving  know- 
ledge of  the  Supreme.     "  In  India  the  name  of 
the  special  deity  whom  a  man  worships  is  always 
kept  a  secret.     The  name  is  whispered  into  the 
ear  of  the  initiated  by  the  spiritual  preceptor."  ^ 
In   China  the   real   name   of  Confucius  is   so 
sacred  that  it  is  a  statutable  offence  to  pronounce 
it.     Commissioner  Yeh,  in  a  conversation  with 
Mr.  Wingrove  Cooke,  said  "  Tien  means  properly 
only   the    material   heaven,    but   it    also    means 
Shang-te,  '  supreme   ruler,'    '  God,'   for,   as  it  is 
not  lawful  to  use  his  name  lightly,  we  name  Him 
by  his  dwelling-place  which  is  in  Tien."  ^ 

^  Chaldean  Magic,  p.  42,  F.  Lenormant. 

2  Letter  from  Mr.  Hemendra  Prasad  Ghose,  Calcutta. 

«  Folk-lore  Record,  Vol.  IV.  p.  76. 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE  THINGS     149 

But  the  rest  of  this  section  must  be  given  to 
the  striking  example  of  mana  in  the  divine  name 
which  is  suppHed  by  Egypt. 

A  Turin  papyrus,  dating  from  the  twentieth 
dynasty,  preserves  a  remarkable  legend  of  the 
great  Ha,  oldest  of  the  gods,  and  one  who, 
ruling  over  men  as  the  first  king  of  Egypt,  is 
depicted  as  in  familiar  converse  with  them.  The 
value  of  the  story,  translated  by  Sir  Wallis 
Budge,  demands  that  it  must  be  given  with  only 
slight  abridgement. 

Now  Isis  was  a  woman  who  possessed  words  of 
power;  her  heart  was  wearied  with  the  millions 
of  men,  and  she  chose  the  miUions  of  the  gods. 
And  she  meditated  in  her  heart,  saying,  "  Cannot 
I  by  means  of  the  sacred  name  of  God  make 
myself  mistress  of  the  earth  and  become  a 
goddess  like  unto  Ra  in  heaven  and  upon 
earth  ?  "  Now,  behold,  each  day  Ra  entered  at 
the  head  of  his  holy  mariners  and  established 
himself  upon  the  throne  of  the  two  horizons. 
The  holy  one  had  grown  old,  he  dribbled  at  the 
mouth,  his  spittle  fell  upon  the  earth,  and  his 
slobbering  dropped  upon  the  gi'ound.  And  Isis 
kneaded  it  with  earth  in  her  hand,  and  formed 
thereof  a  sacred  serpent  in  the  form  of  a  spear; 
she  set  it  not  upright  before  her  face,  but  let  it 
lie  upon  the  ground  in  the  path  whereby  the 
great  god  went  forth,  according  to  his  heart's 
desire,  into  his  double  kingdom.     Now  the  holy 


150  MAGIC    IN   NAMES 

god  arose,  and  the  gods  who  followed  him  as 
though  he  were  Pharaoh  went  with  him;  and  he 
came  forth  according  to  his  daily  wont ;  and  the 
sacred  serpent  bit  him.  The  flame  of  life  de- 
parted from  him,  and  he  who  dwelt  among  the 
Cedars  ( ?)  was  overcome.  The  holy  god  opened 
his  mouth,  and  the  cry  of  his  majesty  reached 
unto  heaven.  His  company  of  gods  said,  "  What 
hath  happened  ?  "  and  his  gods  exclaimed,  "  What 
is  it  ?  "  But  Ra  could  not  answer,  for  his  jaws 
trembled  and  all  his  members  quaked;  the 
poison  spread  swiftly  through  his  flesh  just  as 
the  Nile  invadeth  all  his  land.  Wlien  the  great 
god  had  stablished  his  heart,  he  cried  unto  those 
who  were  in  his  train,  saying,  "  Come  unto  me, 
O  ye  who  have  come  into  being  from  my  body, 
ye  gods  who  have  come  forth  from  me,  make  ye 
known  unto  Kliepera  that  a  dire  calamity  hath 
fallen  upon  me.  My  heart  perceiveth  it,  but  my 
eyes  see  it  not ;  my  hand  hath  not  caused  it,  nor 
do  I  know  who  hath  done  this  unto  me.  Never 
have  I  felt  such  pain,  neither  can  sickness  cause 
more  woe  than  this.  I  am  a  prince,  the  son  of  a 
prince,  a  sacred  essence  which  hath  proceeded 
from  God.  I  am  a  great  one,  the  son  of  a  great 
one,  and  my  father  planned  my  name;  I  have 
multitudes  of  names  and  multitudes  of  forms, 
and  my  existence  is  in  every  god.  I  have  been 
proclaimed  by  the  heralds  Imu  and  Horus,  and 
my  father  and   my   mother  uttered   my  name; 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     151 

but  it  hath  been  hidden  within  me  by  him  that 
begat  me,  who  would  not  that  the  words  of  power 
of  any  seer  should  have  dominion  over  me.  I 
came  forth  to  look  upon  that  which  I  had  made, 
I  was  passing  through  the  world  which  I  had 
created,  when  lo  !  something  stung  me,  but 
what  I  know  not .  Is  it  fire  ?  Is  it  water  ?  My 
heart  is  on  fire,  my  flesh  quaketh,  and  trembling 
liath  seized  all  my  limbs.  Let  there  be  brought 
unto  me  the  children  of  the  gods  with  healing 
words  and  with  lips  that  know,  and  with  power 
which  rcaeheth  unto  heaven." 

The  children  of  every  god  came  unto  him  in 
tears,  Isis  came  with  her  healing  words,  and  her 
mouth  full  of  the  breath  of  life,  with  her  enchant- 
ments which  destroy  sickness,  and  with  her  words 
of  power  which  make  the  dead  to  live.  And  she 
spake,  saying,  "  What  hath  come  to  pass,  O 
holy  father  ?  Wliat  hath  happened  ?  A  ser- 
pent hath  bitten  thee;  and  a  thing  which  thou 
hast  created  hath  lifted  up  his  head  against  thee. 
Verily  it  shall  be  cast  forth  by  my  healing  words 
of  power,  and  I  will  drive  it  away  from  before 
the  sight  of  thy  sunbeams."  The  holy  god 
opened  his  mouth  and  said,  "  I  was  passing  along 
my  path,  and  I  was  going  through  the  two 
regions  of  my  lands  according  to  my  heart's 
desire,  to  see  that  which  I  had  created,  when 
lo  !  I  was  bitten  by  a  serpent  which  I  saw  not. 
Is  it  fire  ?     Is  it  water  ?     I  am  colder  than  water, 


152  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

I  am  hotter  than  fire.  All  my  flesh  sweateth,  I 
quake,  my  eye  hath  no  strength,  I  cannot  see  the 
sky,  and  the  sweat  rusheth  to  my  face  even  as  in 
the  time  of  summer."  Then  said  Isis  unto  Ra, 
"  O  tell  me  thy  name,  holy  father,  for  whosoever 
shall  be  dehvered  by  thy  name  shall  five."  And 
Ra  said,  "  I  have  made  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  I  have  ordered  the  mountains,  I  have 
created  all  that  is  above  them,  I  have  made  the 
water,  I  have  made  to  come  into  being  the  great 
and  wide  sea,  I  have  made  the  '  Bull  of  his 
mother,'  from  whom  spring  the  delights  of  love. 
I  have  made  the  heavens,  I  have  stretched  out 
the  two  horizons  like  a  curtain,  and  I  have 
placed  the  soul  of  the  gods  within  them.  I  am 
he  who,  if  he  openeth  his  eyes,  doth  make  the 
light,  and,  if  he  closeth  them,  darkness  cometh 
into  being.  At  his  command  the  Nile  riseth, 
and  the  gods  know  not  his  name.  I  have  made 
the  hours,  I  have  created  the  days,  I  bring  for- 
ward the  festivals  of  the  year,  I  create  the  Nile- 
flood.  I  make  the  fire  of  life,  and  I  provide  food 
in  the  houses.  I  am  Khepera  in  the  morning, 
I  am  Ra  at  noon,  and  I  am  Imu  at  even."  Mean- 
while the  poison  was  not  taken  away  from  his 
body,  but  it  pierced  deeper,  and  the  great  god 
could  no  longer  walk. 

Then  said  Isis  unto  Ra,  "  Wliat  thou  hast  said 
is  not  thy  name.  O  tell  it  unto  me  and  the 
poison  shall  depart ;  for  he  shall  live  whose  name 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     153 

shall  be  revealed."  Now  the  poison  burned  like 
fire,  and  it  was  fiercer  than  the  flame  and  the 
furnace,  and  the  majesty  of  the  god  said,  "  I 
consent  that  Isis  shall  search  into  me,  and  that 
my  name  shall  pass  from  me  into  her."  Then 
the  god  hid  himself  from  the  gods,  and  his  place 
in  the  boat  of  millions  of  years  was  empty.  And 
when  the  time  arrived  for  the  heart  of  Ra  to 
come  forth,  Isis  spake  unto  her  son  Horus,  saying, 
"  The  god  hath  bound  himself  by  an  oath  to 
deliver  up  his  two  eyes  "  (i.  e.  the  sun  and  moon). 
Thus  was  the  name  of  the  great  god  taken  from 
him,  and  Isis,  the  lady  of  enchantments,  said 
"  Depart  poison,  go  forth  from  Ra.  O  eye  of 
Horus,  go  forth  from  the  god,  and  shine  outside 
his  mouth.  It  is  I  who  work,  it  is  I  who  make  to 
fall  down  upon  the  earth  the  vanquished  poison ; 
for  the  name  of  the  great  god  hath  been  taken 
away  from  him.  May  Ra  live,  and  may  the 
poison  die,  may  the  poison  die,  and  may  Ra 
live  !  "  These  are  the  words  of  Isis,  the  gi-eat 
goddess,  the  queen  of  the  gods,  who  knew  Ra 
by  his  own  name.  But  after  he  was  healed, 
the  strong  rule  of  the  old  sun-god  had  lost  its 
vigour,  and  even  mankind  became  hostile  against 
him  :  they  became  angry  and  began  a  rebellion.^ 
Another    papyrus    records    that    the    god    Set 

^  The  Book  of  the  Dead  :  the  papyrus  of  Ani  in  the  British 
Museum,  pp.  Ixxxix-xci.  Cf.  Weidemann's  Religion  of  the 
Ancient  Egyptians,  pp.  54i-6. 


154  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

made  attempts  to  provoke  his  nephew,  the  god 
Horus,  to  tell  his  name,  whereby  Set  would 
gain  power  over  him,  but  Horus  defeated  the 
plot  by  inventing  various  absurd  names.  Among 
the  Egyptian  gods,  the  real  name  of  Amon, 
whose  name  is  sacred,  and  of  other  gods,  is 
unknown,  and  the  hidden  names  of  the  gi'eat 
gods  of  Greece  were  revealed  only  to  the  par- 
ticipants in  the  Mysteries.  In  his  references  to 
Osiris,  Herodotus  remarks  in  one  place,  where 
he  speaks  of  the  exposure  of  the  sacred  cow, 
"  At  the  season  when  the  Egyptians  beat  them- 
selves in  honour  of  one  of  their  gods  whose  name 
I  am  unwilling  to  mention  in  connection  with 
such  a  matter,"  ^  and  in  another,  "  On  this  lake 
it  is  that  the  Egyptians  represent  by  night  his 
sufferings  whose  name  I  refrain  from  mention- 
ing." 2  The  Father  of  History  here  gives  ex- 
pression to  a  feeling  dominant  throughout  every 
stage  of  culture.  He  differs  no  whit  from  that 
typical  savage,  the  Australian  black-fellow,  into 
whose  car,  on  his  initiation,  the  elders  of  the 
tribe  whisper  the  secret  name  of  the  sky-god — 
Tharamulun,  or  Daramultin — a  name  which  he 
dare  not  utter  lest  the  wrath  of  the  deity  descend 
upon  him.^ 

1  Bk.  II.  132.  2  /^^^  171^ 

3  Journal  of  Anihrop,  Institute,  Vol.  XIII.  p.  192,  "  Some 
Australian  Beliefs." 


MANA   IN   INTANGIBLE   THINGS     155 

In  the  religion  of  the  Nigerian  Ibibio,  behind 
and  above  the  deity  Obumo  (Thunder  God  ?) 
looms  the  dread  figure  of  Eki  Abassi  (Mother  of 
God)  at  once  mother  and  spouse  of  Obumo,  the 
great  First  Cause  and  Creator  of  all,  from  the 
Thunder  God  himself  to  the  least  of  living 
things.  In  the  Ibibio  language  "  she  is  not  as 
the  others  :  she  it  is  who  dwells  alone,  on  the 
other  side  of  the  wall."  To  none  now  living 
does  the  name  of  the  goddess  appear  to  have 
come  down;  possibly  only  to  the  innermost 
circle  of  priests  was  it  known. ^ 

The  Marutse  of  the  Zambesi  shrink  from  men- 
tioning the  name  of  their  chief  god  and  use  the 
word  Molero,  "the  above."  The  name  of  the 
supreme  goddess  of  the  Maoris  was  so  sacred 
that  it  was  never  uttered,  even  by  the  high-class 
priests,  except  when  absolutely  necessary.  At 
all  other  times  she  was  alluded  to  as  "  the 
Beyond,"  or  "  the  High  One,"  or  some  such 
term.  Among  the  Kurnai  the  god  Munganagana 
seems  to  be  known  to  men  only.  It  is  in  the 
last  and  most  secret  place  that  the  name  of  the 
god  is  communicated  to  the  no  vices  .^  The  Choc- 
taw Indians  regarded  the  name  of  their  highest 
god  as  unspeakable.     Wlien  they  referred  to  him 

*  Edinburgh  Review,  July  1914,  "  Some  Aspects  of 
W.  African  Religion,"  P.  A.  Talbot. 

2  Natives  of  Australia,  p.  219,  N.  W.  Thomas. 


156  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

they  adopted  a  circumlocution,  for  according  to 
their  fixed  standard  of  speech,  had  they  made 
any  nearer  approach  to  the  beloved  Name,  it 
would  have  been  a  profanation.^  The  evidence 
is  cumulative  that  through  all  stages  of  belief 
one  formula — nomina  sunt  numina — ^remains 
unchanged . 

^  Religion  of  Primitive  Peoples,  p.  98,  D.  G.  Brinton. 


CHAPTER   IV 

MAN A    IN    WORDS 

There  is  no  essential  difference  between  Names 
of  Power  and  Words  of  Power,  and  the  justifica- 
tion of  any  division  lies  wholly  in  its  convenience. 
For  although  the  implication  may  be  that  the 
one  is  associated  with  persons,  and  the  other 
with  things,  we  have  sufficing  evidence  of  the 
hopeless  entanglement  of  the  two  in  the  barbaric 
mind.  Both  are  regarded  as  effective  for  weal 
or  woe  through  the  magic  power  assumed  to 
inhere  in  the  names,  and  through  the  control 
obtained  over  them  through  knowledge  of  those 
names.  Here  the  apparatus  of  the  priest — 
prayer,  sacrifice,  and  so  forth — is  superseded,  or, 
at  least,  suspended,  in  favour  of  the  apparatus 
of  the  sorcerer  with  his  "  whole  bag  o'  tricks  " — 
spells,  incantations,  curses,  passwords,  charms, 
and  other  machinery  of  white  or  black  magic. 
In  his  invaluable  Asiatic  Studies,  Sir  Alfred 
Lyall  remarks  that  among  the  lower  religions 
"  there  seem  always  to  have  been  some  faint 
sparks  of  doubt  as  to  the  efficacy  of  prayer  and 

157 


158  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

offerings,  and  thus  as  to  the  Hmits  within  which 
deities  can  or  will  interpose  in  human  affairs, 
combined  with  embryonic  conceptions  of  the 
possible  capacity  of  man  to  control  or  guide 
Nature  by  knowledge  and  use  of  Jier  ways,  or 
with  some  primaeval  touch  of  that  feeling  which 
now  rejects  supernatural  interference  in  the 
order  and  sequence  of  physical  processes.  Side 
by  side  with  that  universal  conviction  which 
ascribed  to  divine  volition  all  effects  that  could 
not  be  accounted  for  by  the  simplest  experience, 
and  which  called  them  miracles,  omens,  or  signs 
of  the  gods,  there  has  always  been  a  remote 
manifestation  of  that  less  submissive  spirit  w^hich 
locates  within  man  himself  the  power  of  influ- 
encing things,  and  which  works  vaguely  toward 
the  dependence  of  man  on  his  own  faculties  for 
regulating  his  material  surroundings."  ^ 

The  quality  of  a  thing  is  credited  with  an 
independent  personality,  as  in  the  Wisdom  of 
Solomon,  where  it  says,  "  Thine  all-powerful 
Word  leaped  down  from  Thy  royal  throne  bearing 
as  a  sharp  sword  thine  unfeigned  commandment  " 
(ch.  xviii.  15,  16),  while,  more  emphatically, 
in  John  i.  14,  we  read,  "  The  Word  was  made 
flesh  and  dwelt  among  us,"  and  in  Luke  xi.  49, 
the  Wisdom  of  God  talks  as  a  person.  The 
branches  of  the  subject  are  interlaced;  but, 
broadly  classified.  Words  of  Power  may  be 
1  p.  77  (1884  Edition). 


MANA   IN   WORDS  159 

divided  into  (a)  Creative  Words,  {b)  Mantrams, 
(c)  Passwords,  (d)  Curses,  (e)  Spells  and  inscribed 
Amulets,  and  (/)  Cure-Charms  in  magic  formulae. 

(a)  Creative  Words. 

The  confusion  of  person  and  thing  meets  us 
at  starting,  and  the  deification  of  speech  itself 
warrants  its  inclusion  in  this  section.  Probably 
the  most  striking  example  of  such  deification  is 
the  Hindu  goddess  Vac,  who  is  spoken  of  in  the 
Rig  Veda  ^  as  "  the  greatest  of  all  deities ;  the 
Queen,  the  first  of  all  those  worthy  of  worship," 
and  in  one  of  the  Brahmanas,  or  sacerdotal  com- 
mentaries on  the  Vedas,  as  the  "  mother "  of 
those  sacred  books. ^  Another  hymn  to  her 
declares  that  w4ien  she  was  first  sent  forth,  all 
that  was  hidden,  all  that  was  best  and  highest, 
became  disclosed  through  love.  By  sacrifice 
Speech  was  thought  out  and  found,  and  he  who 
sacrifices  to  her  "  becomes  strong  by  speech,  and 
speech  turns  unto  him,  and  he  makes  speech 
subject   unto   himself."  ^     When  Vac  declares — 

"  Whom  I  love  I  make  mighty,  I  make  him  a  Brahman,  a 

Seer,  and  Wise  .  .  . 
I  have  revealed  the  heavens  to  its  inmost  depths,  I  dwell 

in  the  waters  and  in  sea. 
Over  all  I  stand,  reaching  by  my  mystic  power  to  the 

height  beyond. 

1  Vol.  X.  p.  125. 

2  Satapatha  Brdhmana,  Vol.  III.  p.  8;  Muir's  Sanskrit 
Text,  Vol.  V.  p.  342. 

^  Literary  History  of  India,  p.  74,  R.  W.  Frazer. 


160  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

I  also  breathe  out  like  the  wind,  I  first  of  all  living  things. 
Beyond  the  heavens  and  this  earth  I  have  come  to  this 
great  power," 

echoes  of  the  subhme  claims  of  Wisdom  in  the 
Book  of  Proverbs  (viii.  22,  24,  30)  haunt  the  ear. 

"  The  Lord  possessed  me  in  the  beginning  of  his  way,  before 

his  works  of  old. 
I  was  set  up  from  everlasting,  from  the  beginning,  or  ever 

the  earth  was. 
When  there  were  no  depths,  I  was  brought  forth;    when 

there  were  no  fountains  abounding  with  water  .  .  . 
Then  I  was  by  him,  as  one  brought  up  with  him  :    and  I 

was  daily  his  delight." 

In  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  the  high  place  of 
"  Chockmah  "  or  Wisdom,^  as  co-worker  with  the 
Deity,  is  still  more  prominent;  in  the  Targums, 
"  Memra  "  or  "  Word  "  is  one  of  the  phrases 
substituted  by  the  Jews  for  the  great  Name; 
while  the  several  speculations  concerning  the 
nature  and  functions  of  Wisdom  in  the  canonical 
and  apocryphal  books  took  orderly  shape  in  the 
Logos,  the  Incarnate  Word  of  God,  of  Saint 
John's  Gospel.2     In  Buddhism,  Manjusri  is  the 

1  Buddhism,  p.  201,  Prof.  T.  W.  Rhys  Davids. 

2  "  At  a  camp  meeting  of  Seventh  Day  Adventists  in 
Massachusetts,  I  heard  an  ex-cowboy  evangelist  deliver  an 
impassioned  address  on  the  power  of  the  Word.  He  showed 
by  many  citations  from  the  Hebrew  and  Christian  Scriptures 
that  the  Book  did  not  teach  the  direct  action  of  God  and 
Christ,  but  that  whatever  they  did  was  accomplished  through 
the  power  of  the  Word.  It  was  by  the  Word,  not  by  God, 
that  the  world  was  created,  and  it  was  by  believing  in  the 
Word  that  men  were  saved."— ^  Psychological  Study  of 
Religion,  p.  152,  Prof.  J.  H.  Leuba. 


MANA   IN   WORDS  161 

personification  of  Wisdom,  although  in  this  con- 
nection we  have  to  remark  that  this  rcHgion  has 
no  theory  of  the  origin  of  things,  and  that  for 
the  nearest  approach  to  the  Vac  of  Hinduism 
as  to  the  possible  influence  of  which  on  the  wisdom 
of  the  Book  of  Proverbs,  and  through  it  on  the 
Logos,  we  must  cross  into  ancient  Persia,  in 
whose  sacred  books  we  read  of  Honovar  or  Ahuna- 
variya^  the  "  Creating  Word,"  or  the  Word 
Creator.  When  Zarathustra  (Zoroaster)  asks 
Ahuramazda,  the  Good  God  of  the  Parsi  religion, 
which  was  the  word  that  he  spoke  "  before  the 
heavens,  the  water,  the  earth,  and  so  forth," 
Ahuramazda  answers  by  dwelling  on  the  sacred 
Honovar,  the  mispronunciation  of  which  subjects 
a  man  to  dire  penalties,  while  "  whoever  in  this 
my  world  supplied  with  creatures  takes  off  in 
muttering  a  part  of  Ahuna-variya,  either  a  half, 
or  a  third,  or  a  fourth,  or  a  fifth  of  it,  his  soul 
will  I,  who  am  Ahuramazda,  separate  from 
paradise  to  such  a  distance  in  width  and  breadth 
as  the  earth  is.^  In  his  translation  of  Salaman 
and  Absdlf  wherein  these  lines  occur — 

"...  The  Sage  began, 
O  last  new  vintage  of  the  vine  of  Ufe 
Planted  in  Paradise ;   O  Master-stroke, 
And  all-concluding  flourish  of  the  Pen, 
Kun-fa-Yakiin," 

1  Sacred  Language  and   Writings   of  the  Parsis,   p.   18G, 
M.  Haug. 

M 


162  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

Edward  FitzGerald  appends  as  note  on  Kun- 
fa-Yakun,  "  Be,  and  it  is — the  famous  word  of 
Creation  stolen  from  Genesis  by  the  Kuran." 
In  that  book  we  read,  "  The  Originator  of  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  when  He  decrees  a  matter 
He  doth  but  say  unto  it,  '  Be,'  and  it  is,"  i— a 
declaration  which  the  Genesis  creation-legend, 
doubtless  a  more  or  less  modified  transcript  of 
Accadian  originals,  anticipates  in  the  statement, 
"  And  Elohim  said,  Let  there  be  light,  and  there 
was  light."  In  this  connection  the  three  shouts 
of  the  Welsh,  which  created  all  things,  should 
be  noted. 

The  Babylonian  cosmogony  tablets  tell  of  a 
chaos  whence  the  great  gods  were  evolved,  when 
"  none  had  come  forth  and  no  name  had  yet  been 
named,"  ^  and  a  hymn  of  praise  to  the  god  En-lil 
has  the  verse  :  "At  thy  Name  which  created 
the  world  the  heavens  were  hushed  of  themselves ; 
The  Word  of  Marduk  (Merodach)  shakes  the  sea ; 
as  the  Psalmist  declares  that  the  voice  of  the  Lord 
beateth  the  cedars."  At  Hermopolis  Thoth  made 
the  world  by  speaking  it  into  existence  :  "  That 
which  flows  from  his  mouth  happens,  and  that 
which  he  speaks  comes  into  being."  In  the 
papyrus  of  Nesi-Amen  the  great  god  Neb-u-tcher, 
when  the  time  to  create  all  things  had  arrived, 

1  The  Qur'an,  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  Vol.  VI.  p.  15. 

2  Authority  and  Archaeology,  p.  10.  Edited  by  D.  G.  Hogarth. 


MANA   IN   WORDS  163 

says  :  "  I  brought  (i.  e.  fashioned)  my  mouth  and 
I  uttered  my  own  name  as  a  word  of  power 
and  I  developed  myself  out  of  the  primaeval 
matter  which  I  made."  Here,  then,  is  proof 
that  the  Egyptians  believed  that  by  uttering  his 
own  name  Neb-u-tcher,  he  brought  the  world 
into  existence. 1 

In  a  Quiche  Indian  myth  the  maker  of  the 
world  calls  forth  "  Uleu,"  "  earth,"  and  the  solid 
land  appears.  A  myth  of  Mangaian  Islanders 
of  the  South  Pacific  tells  how  the  Creator  of  all 
things,  after  commanding  the  land  to  rise  from 
the  waters,  surveyed  his  work,  and  said  aloud 
to  himself :  "  It  is  good."  "  Good,"  avowed 
an  echo  from  a  neighbouring  hill.  "  What," 
exclaimed  the  god,  "  is  someone  here  already  ? 
Am  not  I  first?"  "I  first,"  said  the  echo. 
Therefore  the  Mangaians  say  that  the  earliest 
of  all  existences  is  the  bodiless  Voice.^  So  the 
lower  and  the  higher  culture  alike  held  the  doctrine 
of  creatio  ex  nihilo. 

(b)  Mantrams. 

Since  the  whole  world  is  made  up  of  living 
names  which  animate  every  substance  and  every 
body,  we  need  not  be  astonished,  that,  by  chanting 
these  names,  the  priest  imagines  he  can  command 
everything.     If   he    "  knows   the    names    (rokhu 

1  Egyptian  Magic,  p.  161,  Sir  Wallis  Budge. 

2  Myths  and  Songs  of  the  South  Pacific,  Rev.  W.  Gill. 


164  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

ranu)  he  can  with  his  voice  cleave  mountains, 
rend  the  sky,  and  make  the  stars  move  more 
quickly  or  more  slowly."  ^ 

Sir  Wallis  Budge  remarks  that  among  the 
magic  formulae  of  which  the  ancient  Egyptians 
made  use  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  results 
outside  man's  normal  power,  was  repetition  of 
the  names  of  gods  and  supernatural  beings, 
certain  ceremonies  accompanying  the  same.  For 
they  believed  that  every  word  spoken  under  given 
circumstances  must  be  followed  by  some  effect, 
good  or  bad.  The  origin  of  the  Egyptian  super- 
stition lies  further  back  than  Sir  Wallis  suggests, 
although  he  is  probably  correct  in  assuming  that 
its  development  received  impetus  from  the  belief 
that  the  world  and  all  things  therein  came  into 
being  immediately  after  Thoth,  the  god  of 
writing,  especially  of  sacred  literature,  had 
interpreted  in  words  the  will  of  the  Deity  in 
respect  of  the  creation,  and  that  creation  was 
the  result  of  the  god's  command.  ^ 

Belief  in  the  virtue  of  mystic  phrases,  faith 
in  whose  efficacy  would  seem  to  be  increased  in 
the  degree  that  the  utterers  do  not  know  their 
meaning,  is  world-wide.     The  old  lady  who  found 

^  Hastings,  Ency.  R.  and  E.,  Vol.  IX.  p.  152.  Egyptian 
Names,  Prof.  Fovicart. 

2  Introduction  to  the  translation  of  The  Book  of  the 
Dead,  p.  cxlviii. 


MANA   IN   WORDS  165 

spiritual  comfort  in  "  that  blessed  word,  Meso- 
potamia," has  her  representatives  in  both  hemi- 
spheres, in  the  matamanik  of  the  Red  Indian 
and  the  karakias  of  the  New  Zealander,  while 
the  Roman  Catholic  can  double  the  number  of 
beads  on  his  rosary  by  exchanging  strings  with  the 
Tibetan.  The  latter,  as  we  know,  fills  his 
"  praying-wheels,"  more  correctly,  praising- 
wheels,  with  charms  or  texts  from  his  sacred 
books,  the  words  of  wonder-working  power 
frequently  placed  therein,  or  emblazoned  on 
silk  flags,  being  "  Om  Mani  padme  hum,"  "  Ah, 
the  jewel  in  the  lotus,"  i.  e.  "  the  self-creative 
force  is  in  the  kosmos." 

In  the  words  Namo-Omito-Fo  the  Buddhist 
invokes  the  name  of  Amitabha,  the  most  revered 
of  the  meditative  Buddhas.  One  of  the  Sutras  or 
Dialogues  says  "  that  the  man  who  with  stead- 
fast faith  and  quiet  mind  calls  upon  the  Name 
for  a  period  of  only  a  week,  or  even  for  a  single 
day,  may  face  death  with  perfect  security,  for 
Amitabha,  attended  by  a  host  of  celestial  bodi- 
sats,  will  assuredly  appear  before  his  dying  eyes 
and  will  carry  him  away  to  a  joyful  rebirth  in 
that  Pure  Land  in  which  sorrow  and  sighing  are 
no  more."  ^  The  first  Mazdcan  prayers  in  the 
Parsi  religion  have  become  rigid  formulae  and 
"  acquired  an  infinite  power  of  their  own,  so 
1  Buddhist  China,  p.  99,  R.  F.  Johnston. 


166  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

much  so  that  they  become  a  weapon  for  the 
Creator  Himself."  ^  "In  India  to-day  if  an 
ascetic  says  in  one  month  the  name  of  Radha, 
Krishna,  or  Ram  100,000  times,  he  cannot  fail 
to  obtain  what  he  wants,"  2— and  he  will  deserve 
it !  The  mana  is  made  more  effective  by  repe- 
tition, as  in  "  Holy,  holy,  holy.  Lord  God  of 
Sabaoth." 

But  the  most  typical  of  all  are  the  sacred 
formulas  of  the  Brahmins,  the  mantrams  which 
are  believed  to  enchain  the  power  of  the  gods 
themselves.  They  are  combinations  of  the  five 
initial  letters  of  the  five  sacred  elements  which 
produce  sounds,  but  not  words.  These  are  be- 
lieved to  vibratiB  on  the  ether,  and  not  on  latent 
forces  which  are  here.  They  are  effective  only 
when  the  individual  who  resorts  to  them  is  pure 
in  mind  and  body.  This  can  be  attained  by  the 
recital  of  ajapagayithry,  i.  e.  21,600  exhalations 
and  inhalations  in  twenty-four  hours.  These 
have  to  be  divided  among  the  deities  Gancsa, 
Brahma,  Vishnu,  Rudra,  Javathara,  Paramathra, 
and  the  guru  (teacher)  in  the  proportion  of  600, 
6000,  6000,  6000,  1000,  1000,  and  1000.=^ 

Mantrams  are  charged  with  both  bane  and  bliss ; 
there  is  nothing  that  can  resist  their  effect.     At 

1  Hastings,  Ency.  R.  and  E.,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  294. 

2  Magic  and  Divinatimi,  p.  59,  Dr.  T.  Witton  Davies. 

3  Ethnographic  Notes  in  S.  India,  p.  260,  Edgar  Thurston. 


MANA   IN   WORDS  167 

their  bidding  the  demons  will  enter  a  man  or  be 
cast  out  of  him,  and  the  only  test  of  their  efficacy 
is  supplied  by  themselves,  since  a  stronger 
mantram  can  neutralize  a  weaker.  "  The  most 
famous  and  the  most  efficacious  mantram  for 
taking  away  sins,  whose  power  is  so  great  that 
the  very  gods  tremble  at  it,  is  that  which  is  called 
the  gayatri.  It  is  so  ancient  that  the  Vedas 
themselves  were  born  from  it.  Only  a  Brahmin 
has  the  right  to  recite  it,  and  he  must  prepare 
himself  by  the  most  profound  meditation.  It  is 
a  prayer  in  honour  of  the  sun. 

"  There  are  several  other  mantrams  which  are 
called  gayatri,  but  this  is  the  one  most  often 
used."  ^  Next  in  importance  to  the  gayatri, 
the  most  powerful  mantram,  is  the  monosyllable 
Om  or  Aum,  to  which  reference  has  been  made. 
But,  all  the  world  over,  that  which  may  have 
been  the  outcome  of  genuine  aims  has  become 
the  tool  of  necromancers,  soothsayers,  and  their 
kin.  These  recite  the  mystic  charms  for  the 
ostensible  purpose  of  fortune-telling,  of  discovering 
stolen  property,  hidden  treasure,  and  of  miracle- 
mongering  generally.  Certain  mantrams  are 
credited  with  special  power  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  have  the  key  to  the  true  pronunciation, 
reminding  us  of  the  race-test  in  the  pronunciation 

*  Hindu   Manners   and   Customs,    Vol.    I.    p.    140,   Abbe 
Dubois. 


168  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

of  the  old  word  Shibboleth.^  To  the  rishis  or 
sorcerers  who  know  how  to  use  and  apply  these 
hija-aksharas^  as  such  mantrams  are  called,  nothing 
is  impossible.  Dubois  quotes  the  following  story 
in  proof  of  this  from  the  Hindu  poem,  Brahmottara- 
Kanda,  composed  in  honour  of  Siva  :  "  Dasarha, 
King  of  Madura,  having  married  Kalavali,  daughter 
of  the  King  of  Benares,  was  warned  by  the 
princess  on  their  wedding-day  that  he  must  not 
exercise  his  rights  as  a  husband,  because  the 
mantram  of  the  five  letters  which  she  had  learned 
had  so  purified  her  that  no  man  could  touch  her 
save  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  unless  he  had  been 
himself  cleansed  from  all  defilement  by  the  same 
word-charm.  The  princess,  being  his  wife,  could 
not  teach  him  the  mantram,  because  by  so  doing 
she  would  become  his  guru,  and  consequently, 
his  superior.  So  the  next  day  both  husband  and 
wife  went  in  quest  of  the  great  Rishi,  or  penitent 
Garga,  who,  learning  the  object  of  their  visit, 
bade  them  fast  one  day  and  bathe  the  following 
day  in  the  holy  Ganges.  This  being  done  they 
returned  to  the  Rishi,  who  made  the  husband 
sit  down  on  the  ground  facing  the  East,  and, 
having  seated  himself  by  his  side,  but  with  face 
to  the  West,  whispered  these  two  words  in  his 
ear,  '  Namah  Sivaya.'  Scarcely  had  Dasarha 
heard  these  marvellous  words  before  a  flight  of 
^  Judges  xii.  G. 


MANA   IN   WORDS  169 

crows  was  seen  issuing  from  different  parts  of 
his  body,  these  birds  being  the  sins  which  he  had 
committed." 

That  tlie  mantrams  do  not  now  work  the 
starthng  effects  of  which  tradition  tells,  is  ex- 
plained by  the  Brahmins  as  due  to  mankind  now 
living  in  the  Kali-Yuga,  or  Fourth  Age  of  the 
^Vorld,  a  veritable  age  of  Iron ;  but  they  maintain 
that  it  is  still  not  uncommon  for  miracles  to  be 
wrought  akin  to  that  just  narrated,  and  to  this 
which  follows.  Siva  had  taught  a  little  bastard 
boy  the  mysteries  of  the  bija-akshara  or  mantram 
of  the  five  letters.  The  boy  was  the  son  of  a 
Brahmin  widow,  and  the  stain  on  his  birth  had 
caused  his  exclusion  from  a  wedding-feast  to 
which  others  of  his  caste  had  been  invited.  He 
took  revenge  by  pronouncing  two  or  three  of  the 
mystic  letters  through  a  crack  in  the  door  of  the 
room  where  the  guests  were  assembled.  Immedi- 
ately all  the  dishes  that  were  prepared  for  the 
feast  were  turned  into  frogs.  Consternation 
spread  among  the  guests,  all  being  sure  that  the 
mischief  was  due  to  the  little  bastard,  so  fearing 
that  worse  might  happen,  they  rushed  with  one 
accord  to  invite  him  to  come  in.  As  he  entered, 
they  asked  his  pardon  for  the  slight,  w^hereupon 
he  pronounced  the  same  words  backwards,^  and 

1  An  illustration  of  Withershins  (German  Wider  Schein) 
or  against  the  sun,  as  when  the  witches  went  thriee  round 


170  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

the  cakes  and  other  refreshments  appeared,  while 
the  frogs  vanished.  "  I  will  leave  it,"  remarks 
the  Abbe  Dubois,  "  to  someone  else  to  find,  if 
he  can,  anything  amongst  the  numberless  obscura- 
tions of  the  human  mind  that  can  equal  the 
extravagance  of  this  story,  which  a  Hindu  would 
nevertheless  believe  implicitly."  Were  that  vera- 
cious recorder  of  Oriental  belief  and  custom 
alive,  spiritualist  seances  would  supply  him  with 
examples  of  modern  credulity  as  strong  as  those 
which  he  collected  in  the  land  on  which  the 
Mahatmas,  so  the  Theosophists  (who  have  never 
been  granted  sight  of  them)  tell  us,  look  down  from 
their  inaccessible  peaks. 

(c)  Passwords. 

The  famous  Word  of  Power,  "  Open,  Sesame," 
pales  before  the  passwords  given  in  the  Book  of 
the  Dead,  or,  more  correctly,  in  The  Chapters  of 
Coming  Forth  by  Day.  This  oldest  of  sacred 
literature,  venerable  four  thousand  years  B.C., 
contains  the  hymns,  prayers,  and  magic  phrases 
to  be  used  by  Osiris  (the  common  name  given 
to  the  immortal  counterpart  of  the  mummy)  ^  in 
his  journey  to  Amenti,  the  underworld  that  led 

anything  in  that  direction,  or  repeated  the  Lord's  Prayer 
backwards  as  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  devil.  The 
custom  has  jocose  survival  in  the  objection  to  not  passing 
the  bottle  sunwise  at  social  gatherings. 

^  The  soul  was  conceived  to  have  such  affinity  with  the 
god  Osiris  as  to  be  called  by  his  name. — Wiedemann,  p.  244. 


MANA  IN   WORDS  171 

to  the  Fields  of  the  Blessed.  To  secure  unhindered 
passage  thither,  the  deceased  must  know  the 
secret  and  mystical  names  of  the  Gods  of  the 
Northern  and  Southern  Heaven,  of  the  Horizons, 
and  of  the  Empyreal  Gate.  As  the  Egyptian 
made  his  future  world  a  counterpart  of  the  Egypt 
which  he  knew  and  loved,  and  gave  to  it  heavenly 
counterparts  of  all  the  sacred  cities  thereof,  he 
must  have  conceived  the  existence  of  a  waterway 
like  the  Nile,  whereon  he  might  sail  and  perform 
his  desired  voyage.  Strongest  evidence  of  the 
Egyptian  extension  of  belief  in  Words  of  Power 
is  furnished  in  the  requirement  made  of  the 
deceased  that  he  shall  tell  the  names  of  every 
portion  of  the  boat  in  which  he  desires  to  cross 
the  great  river  flowing  to  the  underworld. 
Although  there  is  a  stately  impressiveness  through- 
out the  whole  chapter,  the  citation  of  one  or 
two  sentences  must  suffice.  Every  part  of  the 
boat  challenges  the  Osiris — 

"  Tell  me  my  name,"  saith  the  Rudder.     "  Leg  of  Hapiu  is 

thy  name." 
"Tell  me  my  name,"  saith  the  Rope.     "Hair,  with  which 

Anubis  finisheth  the  work  of  my  embalmcnt,  is  thy 

name." 
*'  Tell  us  our  names,"  say  the  Oar-rests.     "  Pillars  of  the 

underworld  is  your  name." 

And  so  on;  hold,  mast,  sail,  blocks,  paddles, 
bow,  keel,  and  hull  each  putting  the  same  question, 
the  sailor,  the   wind,  the  river,  and  the  river- 


172  MAGIC   IN   NAIVIES 

banks  chiming  in,  and  the  Rubric  ending  with 
the  assurance  to  the  deceased  that  if  "  this 
chapter  be  known  by  him,"  he  shall  "  come 
forth  into  Sekhet-Arru,  and  bread,  wine,  and 
cakes  shall  be  given  him  at  the  altar  of  the  great 
god,  and  fields,  and  an  estate  .  .  .  and  his  body- 
shall  be  like  unto  the  bodies  of  the  gods."  ^ 

But  the  difficulties  of  the  journey  are  not 
ended,  because  ere  he  can  enter  the  Hall  of  the 
Two  Truths,  that  is,  of  Truth  and  Justice,  where 
the  god  Osiris  and  the  forty-two  judges  of  the 
dead  are  seated,  and  where  the  declaration  of 
the  deceased  that  he  has  committed  none  of  the 
forty-two  sins,2  is  tested  by  weighing  his  heart 
in  the  scales  against  the  symbol  of  truth,  Anubis 
requires  him  to  tell  the  names  of  every  part  of 
the  doors,  the  bolts,  lintels,  sockets,  woodwork, 
threshold,  and  posts;  while  the  floor  forbids  him 
to  tread  on  it  until  it  knows  the  names  of  the  two 
feet  wherewith  he  would  walk  upon  it.  These 
correctly  given,  the  doorkeeper  challenges  him, 
and,  that  guardian  satisfied,  Osiris  bids  the 
deceased  approach  and  partake  of  "  the  sepul- 
chral meal."  Then  after  more  name-tests  are 
applied,  those  of  the  watchers  and  heralds  of  the 
seven  arits  or  mansions,  and  of  the  twenty-one 

1  Budge,  pp.  157-60. 

2  "  The  oldest  known  code  of  private  and  public  morality," 
Ribbert  Lectures,  p.  196,  Le  Page  Renouf. 


MANA  IN  WORDS  178 

pylons  of  the  domains  of  Osiris,  the  deceased 
"  shall  be  among  those  who  follow  Osiris  trium- 
phant. The  gates  of  the  underworld  shall  be 
opened  unto  him,  and  a  homestead  shall  be 
given  unto  him,  and  the  followers  of  Horus  who 
reap  therein  shall  proclaim  his  name  as  one  of 
the  gods  who  are  therein." 

For  their  passage  to  the  Land  of  the  Blessed 
the  same  conditions  appear  to  have  been  held 
for  the  followers  of  Mithra,  but  they  had  certain 
aids  to  smooth  their  passage  thither.  The 
Mithraic  worshipper  was  doubtless  permitted 
to  behold  such  visions  as  those  described  in  the 
liturgy  of  the  Paris  papyrus,  and  was  instructed 
in  the  mystic  passwords  which  he  must  one  day 
use  to  unlock  the  gates  of  the  eight  heavens,  in 
the  furthermost  of  which  dwell  the  gods  bathed 
in  eternal  light."  ^  With  this  may  be  compared 
the  assurance  given  in  Rev.  iii.  5  :  "  He  that 
overcometh,  the  same  shall  be  clothed  in  white 
raiment,  and  I  will  not  blot  out  his  name  out  of 
the  book  of  life,  but  I  will  confess  his  name 
before  my  Father  and  the  angels." 

(d)  Curses. 

That  which  to  us  is  a  passing  ebullition  of 
feeling  dictated  against  persons  or  things  hated ;  or 
a  mere  expletive ;  is  to  the  lower  culture  an  entity  : 

^  Quarterly  Review,  July  1914;  "Mysteries  of  Mithra," 
H.  Stuart  Jones. 


174  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

mana  charged  with  miasmatic  mahce.  Professor 
Sayce  says  that  in  ancient  Assyria  "  the  power  of 
the  mansit,  or  curse,  was  such  that  the  gods  them- 
selves could  not  transgress  it."  ^  And  to  quote 
Dr.  Westermarck,  "  the  efficacy  of  a  wish  or  curse 
depends  not  only  on  the  potency  which  it  possesses 
from  the  beginning,  owing  to  certain  qualities 
in  the  person  from  whom  it  originates,  but  also  on 
the  condition  of  the  conductor.  As  particularly 
effective  conductors  are  regarded  blood,  bodily 
contact,  food  and  drink."  ^  In  Morocco  a  man 
establishes  some  kind  of  contact  with  the  other 
person  to  serve  as  a  conductor  of  his  own  wishes 
and  of  his  curses.  Among  the  Sakai  of  the  Malay 
Peninsula  the  malevolent  dart  may  pierce  the 
accused  one  by  "  sendings  "  or  "  pointings."  ^ 
The  Irish  peasant  believes  that  a  curse  once 
uttered  must  alight  on  something;  it  will  float 
in  the  air  seven  years  and  may  descend  any 
moment  on  the  person  aimed  at.*  The  Manx 
phrase,  Mollaght  Mynneys,  is  the  bitterest  curse 
in  that  language  :  "it  leaves  neither  root  nor 
branch,  it  is  the  besom  of  destruction."  The 
Druids  encompassed  a  man's  death  by  "  riming  " 
to  their  victim,  laying  a  spell  on  him  which,  in 
^  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  309. 

2  Moral  Ideas,  Vol.  I.  p.  586. 

3  Pagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  Vol.  II.  p.  299, 
Skeat  and  Blagden. 

*  Teutonic  Mythology,  p.  1227,  Jacob  Grimm. 


MANA   IN   WORDS  175 

the  agony  of  fear,  proved  mortal.  "  A  curse 
is  powerful  unless  it  can  be  turned  back,  when  it 
will  harm  its  utterer,  for  harm  some  one  it  must."  ^ 
"  Arabs,  when  being  cursed,  will  lie  on  the  ground 
that  the  curse  may  fly  over  them;  among  the 
Masai,  if  the  curser  can  spit  in  his  enemy's  eyes, 
blindness  will  follow.  A  Bornoese  whose  brother 
had  been  killed  made  a  tegulum,  or  little  wooden 
figure,  against  the  murderer,  who  on  hearing 
of  this  '  terrific  malediction  '  complained  to  the 
Resident,  who  thereupon  insisted  on  a  public 
taking  back  or  taking  off  the  curse."  ^  The 
supposed  efficacy  of  the  curse  among  the  Burmese 
has  record  in  a  Blue  Book  (1907)  of  theft  of 
treasure  from  a  temple.  The  Pongees,  instead 
of  calling  in  the  police,  summoned  a  synod  which 
pronounced  anathema  in  accumulation  of  curses 
on  the  robbers.  In  twenty-four  hours  the  money 
was  returned.  Among  the  Abyssinians  the  curse 
retains  its  old  prestige.  When  King  Menelik 
bequeathed  the  succession  to  his  son  Jassu,  he 
added  to  his  will  this  curse  :  "  If  anyone  should 
dare  to  declare  '  I  will  not  serve  Jassu,'  may  the 
land  abjure  him  and  may  a  black  dog  be  born 
unto   him   for   a   son.     Know   all   you   whom   I 

^  Saao  Grammaticus,  p.  Ixxx.  Introduction  by  Prof. 
York  Powell. 

2  Pagan  Tribes  of  Borneo,  Vol.  II.  p.  119,  Hose  and 
MacDougall. 


176  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

have  raised  to  power.  Know  all  you,  great  and 
small,  that  I  curse  everyone  who  disobeys  me." 
To  make  the  succession  more  sure  Menelik 
provided  that  the  curse  should  fall  on  Ras  Tasa- 
mona,  should  he  prove  unfaithful  to  his  trust 
as  guardian  of  Jassu.  The  operativeness  of  a 
curse  is  believed  by  the  lower  classes  in  modern 
Greece,  and  "  it  is  a  common  custom  for  a  dying 
man  to  put  a  handful  of  salt  into  a  vessel  of  water 
and  when  it  is  dissolved  to  sprinkle  with  the 
liquid  all  those  who  are  present,  saying,  '  As  the 
salt  dissolve,  so  may  my  curses  dissolve.' "  ^ 

The  personification  of  the  curse  has  an  ancient 
lineage  in  that  classic  land;  in  the  Eumenides, 
the  Furies  say  of  themselves  that  the  name 
whereby  they  are  known  in  the  underworld  is 
Arm,  or  the  Curses.  And,  as  among  the  ancient 
Hebrews,  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  would  be 
visited  "  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and 
fourth  generation  "  (Exod.  xx.  5),  so  among  the 
Greeks  a  curse  might  lead  to  the  extinction  of 
the  race,  and  even  follow  the  accursed  one  in  the 
nether  world.^  Curses  engraved  on  leaden  tablets 
(one  runs,  "  as  the  lead  grows  cold,  so  grow  he 
cold  ")  have  been  found  in  thousands  in  tombs 
and  temples  in  Greece,  Asia  Minor  (the  temple  of 
Pluto  at   Cnidos  being  especially  rich  in  them) 

1  Modem  Greek  Folk-lore,  p.  388,  J.  C.  Lawson. 

2  Cf.  the  story  of  Glaucos  in  Herodotus,  VI.  86. 


MANA   IN   WORDS  177 

Italy,  and  also  nearer  home.  On  those  dirce 
and  imprecationes  the  enemy  is  consigned  to  the 
infernal  powers;  in  one  case  an  angry  woman 
consigned  her  friend  to  Hades  because  she  had 
not  returned  a  borrowed  garment  !  Sometimes, 
in  addition  to  the  inscription  of  the  victim's 
name  on  the  tablet,  a  nail  was  driven  through  it, 
and  the  malediction  added,  "  I  nail  his  name, 
that  is,  himself."  ^  Nearly  one-third  of  the 
tablets  from  Attica  contain  merely  proper  names 
with  a  nail  driven  into  them.  The  like  applies 
to  the  Latin  examples.  Tacitus  records  that 
the  name  of  Germanicus,  whose  death  is  said  to 
have  been  due  to  Piso's  treachery,  was  found 
inscribed  on  a  leaden  tablet  on  which  was  written 
curses  whereby,  "  in  popular  belief,  souls  are 
devoted  to  the  infernal  deities."  ^ 

Some  years  ago,  two  leaden  plates  were  found 
under  a  heap  of  stones  on  Gatherley  Moor,  in 
Yorkshire.  On  one  was  inscribed,  "  I  doe  make 
this  that  James  PhiHpp,  John  Phillip  his  son, 
Christopher  and  Tomas  his  sons  shall  flee  Rich- 
mondshire  and  nothing  prosper  with  any  of  them 
in  Richmondshire."  The  second  was  inscribed 
to  the  same  effect.     Probably  the  Phillips  had 

1  Anthropologij  and  the  Classics,  p.  108.  And  see  Prole- 
gomena to  the  Study  of  Greek  Religion,  pp.  138-145,  Jane 
E.  Harrison;  and  Greek  Votive  Offerings,  pp,  337-340, 
Dr.  W.  H.  D.  Rouse. 

»  Annals,  Bk.  II.  p.  69. 

N 


178  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

dispossessed  a  branch  of  the  family  of  certain 
lands.  Boundary-gods ;  Terminus  of  the  Romans, 
Hermes  of  the  Greeks,  the  inscribed  boundary- 
stones  of  the  Babylonians  which  were  sacred  to 
certain  deities  as  Neba  and  Papu,  perhaps  the 
Celtic  menhirs,  certainly  the  taboo  signs  whereby 
savage  peoples  fence  their  rights,  all  witness  to 
the  importance  accorded  to  landmarks.  The 
long  list  of  curses  in  Deut.  xxvii.  includes  one 
against  the  man  ''  that  removeth  his  neighbour's 
landmark,"  and  corresponding  examples  of 
imprecations  abound,  finding  their  pale  survival 
among  ourselves  in  the  threatening  bogey — 
"  trespassers  will  be  prosecuted."  The  curse 
increases  in  power  with  the  importance  or  status 
of  the  curser.  Among  the  Tongans,  if  a  man  be 
much  lower  in  rank  than  the  enemy  at  whom  he 
hurls  his  imprecations,  the  curse  has  no  effect. 
The  Australian  natives  believe  that  the  curse 
of  a  potent  magician  will  kill  at  the  distance  of 
a  hundred  miles,  and  among  the  Maori  the 
anathema  of  a  priest  is  regarded  as  a  thunderbolt 
which  no  enemy  can  escape.^  The  power  of  the 
curse  of  the  aged  has  an  example  in  the  story  of 
Elisha  who  cursed  the  mocking  little  children 
...  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  "  with  the  result 
that  there  came  forth  two  she  bears  out  of  the 

^  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  New  Zealanders,  Vol.   I. 
p.  148,  J.  S.  Polack. 


MANA  IN  WORDS  179 

wood  and  tare  forty  and  two  children  of  them."  ^ 
The  punishment  appears  to  have  been  dispro- 
portionate to  the  crime  !  In  Mohammedan 
countries  the  curses  of  saints  and  shereefs  are 
specially  dreaded.  A  Moorish  proverb  says,  that 
"  if  the  saints  curse  you  the  parents  will  cure 
you,  but  if  the  parents  curse  you  the  saints  will 
not  cure  you."  ^  It  is  written  in  Manu,  the  law- 
book of  the  ancient  Hindus,  that  a  Brahmin 
may  punish  his  foes  by  his  own  power,  i.  e.  by 
his  words  alone.  The  series  of  curses  given  in 
Deut.  xxvii.  15-26,  and  the  penalties  on  dis- 
obedience set  forth  in  xxviii.  15-68,  have  added 
force  because  they  were  uttered  by  the  Levitical 
caste  as  the  mouthpiece  of  Yahwe,  and  the  like 
applies  to  the  pronouncement  of  anathemas  and 
excommunications  by  bishops  and  priests  as  the 
assumed  ministers  of  God.  "  The  situation  of 
the  outcasts  was  in  itself  very  painful  and  melan- 
choly .  .  .  the  benefits  of  the  Christian  commu- 
nion were  those  of  eternal  life,  nor  could  they 
erase  from  the  mind  the  awful  opinion  that  to 
those  ecclesiastical  governors  by  whom  they  were 
condemned  the  Deity  had  committed  the  keys 
of  Hell  and  Paradise."  ^  In  Spain  the  crime  of 
heresy  was  aggravated  by  the  "  inexpiable  guilt 

1  2  Kings  ii.  23,  24. 

-  Westermarck,  Vol.  I.  p.  622. 

3  Gibbon,  ch.  xv.  p.  55  (Bury's  Edition,  1909). 


180  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

of  calumniating  a  bishop,  a  presbyter,  or  even  a 
deacon."  ^  A  specimen  of  the  curse  of  the 
Church,  which  it  would  be  hard  to  beat,  is  fur- 
nished by  Pope  Clement  VI  (1346)  in  his  excom- 
munication of  Louis  of  Bavaria.  "  Let  him  be 
damned  in  his  going  out  and  his  coming  in ! 
The  Lord  strike  him  with  madness  and  blindness 
and  mental  insanity  !  May  the  heavens  empty 
upon  him  their  thunderbolts,  and  the  wrath  of 
the  Omnipotent  burn  itself  unto  him  in  the 
present  and  the  future  world  !  May  the  Universe 
fight  against  him  and  the  earth  open  to  swallow 
him  up  !  "  2 

The  penal  ordinances  of  a  synod  at  Toledo 
show  that  the  clerics,  when  reading  the  missa  'pro 
dejunctis,  used  to  introduce  the  names  of  living 
men  whose  death  they  thereby  sought  to  encom- 
pass.^ Thanks  to  the  heretics  who  fought  and 
died  for  freedom,  we  can  smile  at  what,  in  bygone 
days,  was  an  awful  shadow,  a  dreaded  calamity, 
on  both  individuals  and  nations.  We  can  listen 
unafraid  to  the  reading  of  a  Commination  Service 
which  recalls  only  the  Jackdaw  of  Rheims. 

The  inanimate,  and  the  world  of  plants  and 
animals,  have  not  escaped  the  mana  of  the  word. 
For  the  sin  of  Adam  the  Lord  God  cursed  the 

^  Gibbon,  ch.  xv.  p.  56. 

-  Hastings's  Ency.  R.  and  E.,Yo\,  IV.  p.  717. 

3  lb..  Vol.  III.  p.  420. 


MANA  IN  WORDS  181 

earth  and  also  the  serpent  as  beguiler.  Jesus 
splenetically  cursed  the  innocent  fig  tree,  for, 
says  the  evangehst  (Mark  xi.  13)  "  the  time  of 
figs  was  not  yet,"  and  folk-lore  abounds  with 
rustic  superstitions  that  trees  and  crops  can  be 
destroyed  by  incantations.  A  curious  chapter 
in  human  history  is  filled  by  examples  of  excom- 
munications and  anathematizing,  in  the  name 
of  the  Blessed  Trinity,  of  birds  which  defiled 
altars  with  their  droppings  which  fell  on  the 
officiating  priest;  of  insects  ravaging  fields;  and 
of  higher  animals  which  superstition  held  responsi- 
ble for  crimes,  and  which  were  hanged  or  burned 
accordingly.^ 

As  with  the  curse,  so  with  the  oath,  it  is  con- 
ceived as  an  entity,  hence  what  has  been  said 
about  the  one  applies  to  the  other.  Much  could 
be  added  concerning  the  variety  of  custom 
accompanying  oath-taking  in  both  barbaric  and 
civilized  communities,  here  reference  is  restricted 
to  the  connection  between  the  oath  and  the 
invocation  of  divine  names,  which  of  course 
could  come  into  practice  only  when  the  theistic 
stage  of  religion  is  reached.  The  Persians  swore 
by  Mithra  :  the  Greeks  by  Zeus  :  the  Romans  by 
Jupiter  Lapis   (holding  a  sacred  stone  in  their 

1  See  Criminal  Prosecution  of  Animals,  passim,  E.  P. 
Evans,  and  article  by  the  present  Avriter,  "  Execution  of 
Animals,"  Hastings's  Encij,  B,  and  E.,  Vol,  V-  pp.  628,  629. 


182  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

hands,  as  do  the  Samoans  to  this  day) :  the 
ancient  Hebrews  by  Yahwe  :  the  Mohammedans 
by  Allah,  while  the  Christian,  following  the 
custom  of  his  forefathers,  swears  on  the  New 
Testament  by  the  help  of  God.  In  all  the  higher 
religions  the  sacred  books  are  held  or  kissed  by 
the  swearer.  Throughout  these  oath-takings  the 
mana  of  the  god's  name  is  the  essence,  hence  the 
fear  of  retaliation  by  the  man  who  breaks  his 
oath,  since  the  perjurer  has  sinned  against  the 
god  himself — taking  "  his  name  in  vain." 

(e)  Spells  and  Inscribed  Amulets. 

In  the  famous  scene  in  Macbeth,  when  the 
witches  make  the  "  hellbroth  boil  and  bubble  " 
in  their  "  caldron,"  Shakespeare  drew  upon  the 
folk-lore  of  his  time.  Two  years  before  he  came 
to  London,  Reginald  Scot  had  published  his 
Discoverie  of  Witchcraft,  a  work  which,  in  Mr. 
Lecky's  words,  "  unmasked  the  imposture  and 
delusion  of  the  system  with  a  boldness  that  no 
previous  writer  had  approached,  and  an  ability 
which  few  subsequent  writers  have  equalled."  ^ 
In  that  book  may  be  found  the  record  of  many  a 
strange  prescription,  of  which  other  dramatists 
of  Shakespeare's  period,  notably  Middlcton, 
Heywood,  and  Shadwell,  made  use  in  their 
thaumaturgic  machinery.     Scot's  exposure  of  the 

1  Rise  and  Influence  of  Ratimialism  in  Europe,  Vol.  I. 
p.  103  (1875  Edition). 


MANA   IN   WORDS  183 

*'  impietie  of  inchanters  "  and  the  "  knavcrie 
of  conjurers  "  is  accompanied  by  examples  of  a 
number  of  spells  for  raising  the  various  grades 
of  spirits,  from  the  ghost  of  a  suicide  to  the 
innumerable  company  of  demons.  In  each  case 
the  effectiveness  of  the  spell  depends  on  the 
utterance  of  names  which  are  a  jumble  of  strange 
or  manufactured  tongues.  For  example,  the 
spirits  of  the  "  Airy  Region  "  are  conjured  by 
"  his  strong  and  mighty  Name,  Jehovah,"  and 
by  his  "  holy  Name,  Tetragrammaton,"  and  by 
all  his  "  wonderful  Names  and  Attributes,  Sadat, 
Ollon,  Emillat,  Athanatos,  Paraclctus."  Then 
the  exorcist,  turning  to  the  four  quarters,  calls 
the  names,  "  Gerson,  Anek,  Nephrion,  Basannah, 
Cabon,"  whereupon  the  summoned  spirits,  casting 
off  their  phantasms,  will  stand  before  him  in 
human  form  to  do  his  bidding,  to  bestow  the  gift 
of  invisibility,  foreknowledge  of  the  weather, 
knowledge  of  the  raising  and  allaying  of  storms, 
and  of  the  language  of  birds.  Then  the  exorcist 
dismisses  them  to  their  aerial  home  in  "  the  Name 
of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost."  ^ 

The  Witch  of  Endor  secured  the  appearance 
of  Samuel  by  the  mere  invocation  of  his  name, 
a  far  simpler  process  than  availed  the  mediaeval 
necromancer,  for  he  had  to  go  to  the  grave  at 
midnight  with  candle,  crystal,  and  hazel  wand 
1  pp.  481,  482  (1886  reprint  of  the  1584  Edition). 


184  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

on  which  the  Name  of  God  was  written,  and  then, 
repeating  the  words,  "  Tetragrammaton,  Adonai, 
Agla,  Gabon,"  to  strike  on  the  ground  three 
times  with  his  wand,  thereby  conjuring  the 
spirit  into  the  crystal.  That  Witch  (1  Sam. 
xxviii.  11,  12)  has  her  successors  in  the  mediums 
to  whom  the  bereaved,  among  these  even  men, 
presumably,  of  high  intelligence,  repair  to  be 
put  into  communication  with  discarnates  who, 
in  the  jargon  of  spiritualism,  have  "  passed 
over."  ^  These  departed  ones  are  credited  with 
ethereal  souls  in  ethereal  bodies,  clothed,  accord- 
ing to  the  "  new  revelation,"  in  white  robes 
"  made  from  decayed  worsted  on  your  side,"  so 
the  medium  learns  from  Raymond  Lodge's  control 
Feda,  a  little  Indian  girl.  On  the  rare  occasions 
when  the  revenants  have,  so  the  mediums  report, 
appeared,  sceptics  have  sometimes  possessed 
themselves  of  fragments  of  white  robes  and  other 
articles  which  were  identified  as  parts  of  the 
stock-in-trade  of  the  medium. 

The  importance  which  the  ancient  Egyptians 
attached  to  dreams  is  well  known.     It  was  the 

1  "  Oh,  the  road  to  En-dor  is  the  oldest  road, 
And  the  craziest  road  of  all ! 
Straight  it  runs  to  the  witch's  abode 

As  it  did  in  the  days  of  Saul. 
And  nothing  has  changed  of  the  sorrow  in  store 
For  such  as  go  down  on  the  road  to  En-dor." 

The  Years  Between,  Rudyard  I^ipling. 


MANA  IN   WORDS  185 

universal  belief  that  they  were  sent  by  the  gods ; 
and  as  matters  of  moment  hinged  on  them,  magic 
was  brought  into  play  to  secure  the  desired 
dream.  Among  the  formulae  used  for  this  purpose 
which  survive  is  the  following  :  Take  a  cat, 
black  all  over,  which  has  been  killed  :  prepare 
a  tablet,  and  write  these  words  with  a  solution 
of  myrrh,  also  the  dream  desired,  which  put  in 
the  mouth  of  the  cat :  "  Keimi,  Keimi,  I  am 
the  Great  One,  in  whose  mouth  rests  Mommon, 
Thoth,  Nanumbre,  Karikha,  .  .  .  the  sacred 
laniee  ien  aeo  eieeieiei  aoeeo,"  and  so  on  in  a 
string  of  meaningless  syllables  which  were  sup- 
posed to  convey  the  hidden  name  of  the  god, 
and  thereby  make  him  subject  to  the  magician. 
Then,  as  the  conclusion,  "  Hear  me,  for  I  shall 
speak  the  great  Name,  Thoth.  Thy  name 
answers  to  the  seven  vowels."  These,  Sir  W.  Budge 
explains,  "  were  supposed  in  the  Gnostic  system 
to  contain  all  the  names  of  God,  and  were,  there- 
fore, most  powerful  when  used  as  a  spell."  i 

Onomancy,  or  divination  from  the  letters  of 
a  name,  has  an  example  in  the  Apocryphal 
Gospel  of  Pseudo-Matthew,  wherein  Jesus  is  made 
to  say  to  Zaccheus,  "  Every  letter  from  Aleph 
to  Tau  is  known  by  its  order;  thou,  therefore, 
first  say  what  is  Tau  and  I  will  tell  thee  what 
Aleph  is."  And  Jesus  began  to  ask  the  names  of 
1  Egyptian  Magic,  p.  57, 


186  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

the  separate  letters  and  said,  "  Let  the  teachers 
of  the  law  say  what  the  first  letter  is;  or  why- 
it  hath  many  triangles,  scalene,  acute-angles, 
equangular,  unequal-sided,  with  unequal  angles, 
rectangular,  rectilinear,  and  curvilinear."  Then 
follows  the  amazement  of  the  hearers,  one  of  them, 
Levi,  exclaiming,  "  I  think  no  man  can  attain 
to  his  word  except  God  hath  been  with  him."  ^ 
The  Levis  of  to-day  are  no  whit  behind  their 
prototype  in  accepting  as  "a  new  revelation  " 
the  drivel  which  fills  the  organs  of  the  Occultists. 

The  Babylonian  libraries  have  yielded  a  large 
number  of  incantations  for  use  against  evil 
spirits,  sorcery,  and  human  ills  generally,  the 
force  of  the  magic  conjurations  being  increased 
in  the  degree  that  they  are  unintelligible.^ 

The  Sumerian  spells  were  retained  in  the 
liturgies  long  after  that  language  had  died  out 
as  a  spoken  one.  The  archaic  songs  chanted  by 
the  Arval  Brothers  at  their  agricultural  cere- 
monies had  become  unintelligible  to  them ;  Latin, 
long  a  dead  language,  survives  in  Roman  Catholic 
ritual,  although  not  a  "  tongue  understood  of 
the  people."  For  it  is  needful  to  preserve  the 
old   form   of  the   name,   because,   although  the 

^  Apocryphal  Gospels,  p.  72,  edited  by  B.  H.  Cowper. 

2  "  The  lapse  of  time  has  seconded  the  sacerdotal  arts, 
and  in  the  East  as  well  as  the  West  the  Deity  is  addressed 
in  an  obsolete  tongue  unknown  to  the  majority  of  the 
congregation." — Gibbon,  ch.  xlvii. 


MANA   IN   WORDS  187 

meaning  may  be  lost,  another  name,  or  a  variation 
of  it,  would  not  possess  the  same  virtue.    Although 

"  The  lion  and  the  lizard  keep 
The  courts  where  Jamshyd  gloried  and  drank  deep," 

these  references  to  the  superstitions  that 
dominated  the  ancient  civilizations  of  the  East, 
and  through  them,  in  their  elaborated  magical 
forms,  of  the  West,  are  of  service  to-day.  That 
they  persisted  so  long  is  no  matter  of  wonder, 
when  we  remember  how  late  in  human  history 
is  perception  of  the  orderly  sequence  of  pheno- 
mena; and  that  persistence  also  explains  why 
like  confusion  prevails  in  communities  where  the 
scientific  stage  has  not  been  reached.  In  this 
matter,  even  in  these  post-Darwinian  days, 
"  there  are  few  that  be  saved  "  from  the  feeling 
that,  in  some  vaguely  defined  way,  man  can 
influence  the  unseen  by  the  power  of  spoken 
words.  Belief  in  the  power  of  these  was  extended 
to  the  written  word  for,  to  the  illiterate,  the 
signs  scratched  on  wood  or  potsherd,  or  any  other 
material,  would  be  what  the  Egyptians  called 
"  words  of  power,"  or  "  words  that  compel." 
Reginald  Scot  gives  the  following  charm  "  against 
theeves,"  which  "  must  never  be  said,  but  carried 
about  one  "  :  "I  doo  go,  and  I  doo  come  unto 
you  with  the  love  of  God,  with  the  humility  of 
Christ,  with  the  holines  of  our  blessed  ladie,  with 


188  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

the  faith  of  Abraham,  with  the  justice  of  Isaac, 
with  the  vertue  of  David,  with  the  might  of  Peter, 
with  the  constancie  of  Paule,  with  the  word  of 
God,  with  the  authoritie  of  Gregorie,  with  the 
praier  of  Clement,  with  the  floud  of  Jordan,  p  ]:>  p 
cgegaqqestptikabglk2acctbam 
g  242  iq;  pxcgkqqaqqpoqqr.  Oh  onehe 
Father  >h  oh  onhe  lord  >h  and  Jesus  ^  passin 
through  the  middest  of  them  >h  went  >b  In  the 
Name  of  the  Father  >h  and  of  the  Sonne  >h  and 
of  the  Hoh'e-ghost  ^." 

With  this,  those  who  care  to  pursue  a  subject 
which  is  the  quintessence  of  the  tedious,  may 
compare  in  an  old  papyrus  an  adjuration  to  be 
pronounced  for  the  same  purpose.  "  I  adjure 
thee  by  the  holy  names,  render  upon  the  thief 
who  has  carried  away  (such  and  such  a  thing) 
Khaltchak,  Khiam,  Khar,  Beni  (etc.)  and  by 
the  terrible  names  a  e  e  yyy  u  u  ooooo  vvvvv 
wwwwww.''^ 

The  word  Amulet  (Arabic,  hamalah-at,  "  a 
thing  carried  ")  covers  all  objects  used  as  charms, 
either  worn  on  the  person  or  attached  to  things, 
both  living  and  dead,  for  luck  and  protection. 
Belief  in  amulets  as  possessing  mana,  is  universal : 
they  are  further  links  in  the  long  chain  of  magic 
which  connects  the  lower  and  higher  races  :  their 
sources  lie  in  man's  abiding  impulse  to  set  up 
theories  of  connection  based  on  the  striking  and 


MANA   IN   WORDS  189 

the  coincidental.  The  subject  covers  an  enormous 
field  :  here  it  must  be  limited  to  amulets  as 
power-word-carriers.  Among  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tians the  preservation  of  the  name  was  a  matter 
of  first  importance  because  no  king  could  exist 
without  a  name  :  the  blotting-out  of  that  was 
the  blotting-out  of  the  life  itself.  Hence  the 
name  was  inscribed  on  amulets  "  whereby," 
according  to  the  25th  chapter  of  the  Book  of  the 
Dead,  "  a  person  remembreth  his  name  in  the 
underworld,"  i.  e.  when  called  up  for  judgement.^ 
Even  the  gods  might  lose  their  names,  for  of  the 
fiery  region  of  the  twelfth  domain  we  read,  "  No 
god  goes  down  into  it,  for  the  four  snakes  would 
destroy  their  names."  ^  The  belief  that  change 
of  name  implies  extinction  of  the  name  has 
reference  in  Isa.  Ixv.  15  :  "  And  ye  shall  leave 
your  name  for  a  curse  unto  my  children  for 
the  Lord  God  shall  slay  thee,  and  call  his  servants 
by  another  name."  The  Jewish  phylactery, 
which  has  a  high  antiquity,  is  a  small  leathern 
box  containing  four  texts  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment:  Deut.  vi.  4-9;  xi.  13-22;  Exod.  xiii.  1-10 
and  11-16,  written  on  vellum.     It  is  worn  on 

*  "  The  main  object  of  the  careful  reiteration  of  the 
name  in  inscriptions  on  the  walls  of  temples,  or  stelae,  and 
other  monuments  was  that  it  might  be  spoken  and  kept 
alive  by  the  readers," — Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians, 
p.  29i,  Prof.  A.  Weidemann. 

^  Amulets,  p.  21,  Prof.  W.  M.  Flinders  Petrie. 


190  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

the  left  arm,  and  on  the  head,  at  certain  set  times 
of  prayer,  and  has  its  place  among  amulets  in 
virtue  of  the  magic  believed  to  inhere  in  the 
sacred  words  and  names  which  it  contains.  First 
among  these  is  the  mystic,  the  holy  ineffable 
Tetragrammaton  (the  whole  Jewish  magical 
literature  rests  on  the  use  of  that  and  of  other 
names  of  God);  then  follow  names  of  angels 
mixed  with  those  of  strange  gods,  Solomon's 
ring,  with  which  the  Arabian  Nights  has  made  us 
all  familiar,  and  on  which  was  inscribed  "  the 
greatest  name  of  God."  Even  the  Jews  use  as 
an  amulet  the  name  of  Jesus  along  with  the 
three  Magi :  these  names,  in  Christian  magic, 
curing  epilepsy  if  the  patient  wears  them  on  his 
person.  In  like  manner  Christian  amulets  bore 
on  them  the  names  of  the  Hebrew  god;  while 
both  Jew  and  Christian  amulets  are  inscribed 
with  words  from  the  Greek  and  Latin.  In 
Jewish  tradition  when  Lilith,  Adam's  first  wife, 
refused  to  obey  him,  she  uttered  the  shem- 
hamptorash,  i.  e.  pronounced  the  ineffable  name 
of  Jehovah,  and  instantly  flew  away.  The 
utterance  gave  her  such  power  that  even  Jehovah 
could  not  coerce  her,  and  the  three  angels,  Snoi, 
Snsnoi,  and  Smuglf,  who  were  sent  after  her, 
had  to  be  content  with  a  compromise,  whereby 
Lilith  swore  by  the  name  of  the  living  God  that 
she  would  refrain  from  doing  any  harm  to  infants 


MANA  IN  WORDS  191 

wherever  and  whenever  she  should  find  those 
angels,  or  their  names  or  their  pictures  on  parch- 
ment or  paper,  and  on  whatever  else  they  might 
be  drawn,  "  and  for  this  reason,"  says  a  Rabbinical 
writer,  "  we  write  the  names  of  these  angels  on 
slips  of  paper  or  parchment  and  tie  them  upon 
infants  that  Lilith,  seeing  them,  may  remember 
her  oath  and  abstain  from  doing  our  infants  any 
injury."  ^ 

Corresponding  to  the  phylacteries  are  the  rolls 
containing  fantastic  signs,  rhodomantade  mixtures 
of  alphabets  and  other  cabalistic  rubbish  which 
those  very  barbaric  Christians,  the  Abyssinians, 
carry  on  their  person  or  ajfiix  to  the  Untels  of 
their  houses.     Among  the  Gnostics— attempts  to 
classify  whom  is  a  hopeless  task— the  sect  of  the 
Basilidians  may  be  chosen  as  typical  believers 
in  the  magic   of  inscribed  amulets.     These  are 
represented    by   the    Abraxas    stones,    so   called 
from  having  that  word  e  ngraved  on  them.    Taking 
the  numerical   virtue  of  the  seven  letters  they 
signify  the  number  365,   which  the  Basilidians 
believed  indicated  that  number  of  spirits  emana- 
ting from  the  Supreme   God.     In  like  profitless 
play  with  the  occult  in  numbers  was  the  high 
magical  value  which  the  ancient  Jews  attached 
to  Exod.  xiv.  19-21.     Each  of  the  verses  contains 
72  letters,  and  one  of  the  mysterious  names  of 
*  Modern  Judaism,  p.  165,  J.  Allen. 


192  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

God  consists  also  of  72  letters;  hence,  they 
were  beheved  to  represent  the  Ineffable  Name. 
A  book  on  the  history  of  belief  in  Magic  in 
Numbers  would  almost  equal  in  interest  the 
history  of  belief  in  Magic  in  Names  and  Words. 

There  lies  before  me  a  book,  entitled  Kabalistic 
Astrology  or  Your  Fortune  in  your  Name,^  in  w^hich, 
darkened  by  pages  of  pseudo-philosophic  jargon, 
a  theory  is  formulated  on  "  the  power  of  Names 
and  Numbers,"  all  names  being  essentially 
numbers,  and  vice  versa.  "  A  name  is  a  man- 
tram,  an  invocation,  a  spell,  a  charm.  It  gains 
its  efficacy  from  the  fact  that,  in  pronunciation, 
certain  vibrations,  corresponding  to  the  mass- 
chord  of  the  name,  are  set  up;  not  only  in  the 
atmosphere,  but  also  in  the  more  ethereal  sub- 
stance, referred  to  by  a  modern  philosopher  as 
'  mind-stuff,'  whose  modifications  form  the  basis 
of  changes  of  thought.  This  is  evident  to  us  in 
the  fact  that  names  import  to  our  minds  certain 
characteristics,  more  or  less  definite  according 
to  the  acuteness  of  our  psychometric  sense. 
How  different,  for  example,  are  the  impressions 
conveyed  to  us  in  the  names  '  Percy,'  '  Horatio,' 
'  Ralph,'  '  Eva,'  and  '  Ruth.'  Seeing  then  this 
difference,  it  will  not  seem  wholly  improbable 
that  a  difference  of  fortune  and  destiny  should 

^  By  "  Sepharial."     The  Astrological  Publishing  Associa- 
tion, London. 


MANA  IN   WORDS  193 

go  along  with  them."     The  evidence  of  astro- 
logical logic  which  this  last  sentence  affords  is 
on    a    par    with    what    follows    throughout    the 
fatuous   volume.     All   names  are   numbers,  and 
each  letter  in  the  name  has  its  numerical  and 
astral  value  by  which  can  be  known  what  planets 
were  in  the  ascendant  at  the  time  of  birth  of  the 
person  whose  horoscope  is  being  cast.     Numbers 
one  and  four,  a  modern  Numerist  tells  us,^  have 
a  vibration   from  the  sun;    number  two   has   a 
vibration  from  the   moon,   influencing  the   soul 
and  heart-plane ;  while  five  has  a  psychic  vibration 
of  yellow  so  intense  that  only  he  who  understands 
its   import   can   become   a   true    psychic.     Over 
seven  the  Numerists  get  rampageous  :    because 
God  having  ended  the  work  of  creation,  sanctified 
that  number,  it  represents  the  triumph  of  spirit 
over   matter.     The    occultist,    by   virtue    of   his 
temperament   and   attitude,    cannot   accept   the 
obvious,  hence  he  neglects  an  interesting  branch 
of  study,  crammed,  like  that  of  the  history  of  the 
importance  attached  to  the  number  seven  in  its 
influence    on    custom,    law    and    religion.     For 
bread  he  gives  a  stone  .^ 

^  "  On  the  Significance  of  Numbers  "  :  a  series  of  articles 
in  the  International  Psychic  Gazette,  October  1917-May  1918. 

^  The  fantastic  use  of  numbers,  notably  of  the  number 
five,  has  abundant  illustration  in  Sir  Thomas  Browne's 
Garden  of  Cyrus,  wherein,  as  the  sub-title  denotes,  the 
quincunx  is  "  artificially,  naturally,  mystically  considered." 


194  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

The  old  astrology  had  a  certain  quality  of 
nobleness  about  it.  As  Comte  has  justly  said, 
it  was  an  attempt  to  frame  a  philosophy  of  history 
by  reducing  the  seemingly  capricious  character 
of  human  actions  within  the  domain  of  law.  It 
strove  to  establish  a  connection  between  these 
actions  and  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies 
which  were  deified  by  the  ancients  and  credited 
with  personal  will  directing  the  destiny  of  man. 
But  the  new  astrology  is  the  vulgarist  travesty 
of  the  old. 

(/)  Cure-Charms. 

As  gods  of  healing,  both  Apollo  and  ^Esculapius 
were  surnamed  Paean,  after  the  physician  to 
the  Olympian  deities,  and  the  songs  which 
celebrate  the  healing  power  of  Apollo  were  also 
called  by  that  name.  Ever  in  song  have  the 
deeper  emotions  found  relief  and  highest  expres- 
sion, while  the  words  themselves  have  been 
credited  with  magic-healing  power.  One  of  the 
earliest  fragments  in  the  Book  of  Genesis  is  the 
song  in  which  Lamech  chants  his  slaying  of  "  a 
man  to  my  wounding,"  and  "a  young  man  to  my 
hurt,"  1  and  as  the  word  charm  (Lat.  carmen,  a 
song)  itself  indicates,  the  old  incantations  were 
cast  in  metrical  form.  Songs  are  the  salve  of 
wounds.  When  Odysseus  was  maimed  by  the 
boar's  tusk,  his  kinsfolk  sang  a  song  of  the  healing ; 
1  Ch.  iv.  23. 


MANA   IN   WORDS  195 

and  when  Wainamoinen,  the  hero-minstrel  of 
the  Kalevala,  cut  his  knee  in  hewing  the  wood 
for  the  magic  boat,  he  could  heal  the  wound  only 
by  learning  the  mystic  words  that  chant  the 
secret  of  the  birth  of  iron,  while  he  could  finish 
the  stern  and  forecastle  only  by  descending  to 
Tuoni  (the  Finnish  underworld)  to  learn  the 
"  three  lost  words  of  the  master."  ^  The  same 
old  hero,  when  challenged  to  trial  of  song  by 
the  boastful  youngster  Joukahinen,  plunges  him 
deep  in  the  morass  by  the  power  of  his  enchant" 
ment,  and  releases  him  only  on  his  promising  to 
give  him  his  sister  Aino  in  marriage. ^  Fragments 
of  a  spell-song  in  the  Saga  of  the  Wolsung's 
"Mim's  Head"  tell  of  Beech-Runes,  Help- 
Runes,  and  great  Power-Runes  for  whosoever 
will  to  have  charms  pure  and  genuine  till  the 
world  falls  in  ruin.^  In  his  Art  of  Poesie, 
written  three  centuries  ago,  Puttenham  quaintly 
says  that  poetry  "  is  more  ancient  than  the 
artificiall  of  the  Greeks  and  Latines,  coming  by 
instinct  of  nature,  and  used  by  the  savage  and 
uncivill,  who  were  before  all  science  and  civiltie. 
This  is  proved  by  certificate  of  merchants  and 
travellers  .  .  .  affirming  that  the  American,  the 
Pcrusine,  and  the  very  canniball,  do  sing,  and 
also  say,   their   highest  and   holiest   matters   in 

1  Kalevala,  Rune  XVII.  ^  y^,^  Rm^g  VIII. 

'  Corpus  Poeticum  Boreale,  Vol.  I.  p.  30. 


196  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

certain  riming  versicles."  ^    Hence  the  part  which, 

"  dropping  into  poetry,"  plays  in  saga,  jataka,  and 

folk-tale,  little  snatches  of  rhyme  lending  effect 

and  emphasis  to  incident,  and  also  aid  to  memory, 

as  in  the  Rumpelstiltskin  group,  the  central  idea 

in  which  is  checkmating  the  demon  by  finding 

out  his  name,  as  in  the  Suffolk  variant — 

"  Nimmy  nimmy  not, 
Your  name's  Tom  Tit-Tot." 

Italian  folk-medicine,  which  perhaps  more  than 
in  any  other  country  in  Europe  has  preserved 
its  empirical  remedies,  whose  efficacy  largely 
depends  on  magic  formulae  being  uttered  over 
them,  has  its  inconsequential  jingle-charms. 
Traces  of  the  use  of  these  occur  among  the 
polished  Romans ;  while  Grimm  refers  to  a  song- 
charm  for  sprains  which  was  current  for  a 
thousand  years  over  Germany,  Scandinavia,  and 
Scotland.2  How  the  pre-Christian  cure-charms 
are  transferred  by  the  change  of  proper  names 
to  the  Christian,  like  the  conversion  of  Pagan 
deities  into  Christian  saints,  is  seen  in  these  original 
and  Christianized  versions — 

"  Phol  and  Woden  "  Jesus  rode  to  the  heath, 

went  to  the  wood ;  There  he  rode  the  leg  of  his 

then  was  of  Balder's  colt  colt  in  two, 

his  foot  wrenched ;  Jesus  dismounted  and  heal'd 

then  Sinthgunt  charm'd  it ;         it ; 

1  Quoted  in  Custom  and  Myth,  p.  159,  Andrew  Lang, 

2  Tmtonic  Mythology,  p.  1233,  J.  Grimm. 


MANA  IN   WORDS  197 

and  Sunna  her  sister ;  Jesus  laid  marrow  to  mar- 

and  Frua  charm'd  it,  row, 

and  Volla  her  sister ;  Bone  to  bone,  flesh  to  flesh ; 

Then  Woden  charm'd  it,        Jesus  laid  thereon  a  leaf, 

as  he  well  could,  That  it  might  remain  in  the 

as  well  the  bone-wrench,  same  place." 

as  the  blood-wrench, 

as  the  joint-wrench ; 

bone  to  bone, 

blood  to  blood, 

joint  to  joint, 

as  if  they  were  glued  together." 

An  equally  striking  example  of  the  blend  of 
the  older  faith  with  the  newer  is  given  in  the 
charm  for  ague  which  was  sent  by  a  North 
Lincolnshire  man  to  the  late  Andrew  Lang  and 
published  by  him  in  Longman's  Magazine, 
December  1901. 

"  We  used  to  have  a  lot  of  ague  about  when  I 
was  a  lad,  and  my  mother  dosed  the  village  folk 
with  quinine.  She  sent  me  one  day  with  a  bottle 
to  the  house  of  an  old  grandam  whose  grandson 
was  down  with  '  the  shivers.' 

"  But  when  I  produced  it,  she  said — 

"  '  Naay  lad,  O  knaws  tew  a  soight  better  cure 
than  yon  mucky  stuff.' 

"  And  with  that  she  took  me  round  to  the  foot 
of  his  bed,  an  old  four-post.  There  on  the  bottom 
board  were  fixed  three  horse-shoes,  points  upwards 
(of  course)  with  a  hammer  laid  '  slosh  ways  '  over 
them.     Taking  it  in  her  hand,  she  said 


198  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

"  '  Feyther,  Son,  an'  Holy  Ghoast, 
Naale  t'owd  divvel  tew  this  poast ; 
Throice  I  stroikes  with  holy  crock, 
With  this  mell  I  throice  du  knock, 

One  for  God, 

An'  one  for  Wod, 

An'  one  for  Lok.'  "  ^ 

There  recently  came  to  light  a  pocket-book  of 
the  hapless  James,  Duke  of  Monmouth,  in  which 
he  had  written  this  charm  "  to  procure  deliver- 
ance from  pain."  The  Sixth  Psalm  had  to  be 
repeated  seven  times,  the  first  verse  of  the  Seventh 
Psalm  being  added  at  each  repetition.  Then  an 
image  of  the  goddess  Isis  was  held  up  and  this 
prayer  offered.  "  O  great  God  of  salvation,  may 
it  please  you  by  the  virtue  of  Thy  Saint  Isis,  and 
by  the  virtue  of  this  Psalm  to  deliver  me  from 
the  travail  and  torment,  as  it  pleased  Thee  to 
deliver  him  who  made  this  Psalm  and  prayer."  ^ 

Probably  a  like  substitution  of  names  disguises 
many  barbaric  word-spells ;  for  medicine  remained 
longer  in  the  empirical  stage  than  any  other 
science,  while  the  repute  of  the  miracles  of  healing 
wrought  by  Jesus  largely  explains  the  invocation 
of  his  name  over  both  drug  and  patient.     The 

^  Woden  (whence  our  Wednesday)  a  supreme  god  of  the 
Norsemen  :  Lok,  or  Loki,  slayer  of  Balder  the  Beautiful, 
is  the  lame  god  of  the  underworld  (cf.  the  Greek  Hephaestus), 
whose  daughter,  Hel,  is  queen  of  that  region.  The  "  mell  " 
is  Thor's  hammer.     And  see  Folk-lore,  Vol.  IX.  p.  185. 

2  Blackwood's  Magazine,  April  1918,  "A  Prince's  Pocket 
Book." 


MANA   IN   WORDS  199 

persistence  of  the  superstition  is  seen  in  a  story 
told,  among  others  of  the  hke  character,  in  Miss 
Burne's    Shropshire  Folk-lore}      A  blacksmith's 
wife,  who  had  suffered  from  toothache,  was  given 
a  charm  by  a  young  man  who  told  her  to  wear  it 
in  her  stays.     As  soon  as  she  had  done  so  the  pain 
left  her,  and  it  never  troubled  her  again.     It  was 
"  words  from  Scripture  that  cured  her,"  she  said, 
adding  that  she  had  relieved  "a  many  with  it." 
After  some  trouble  she  consented  to  make  a  copy 
of  the  talisman.     It  proved  to  be  an  imperfect 
version  of  an  old  ague  charm  given  in  Brand, 
and  this  is  the  form  in  which  the  woman  had  it. 
"  In  the  Name  of  God,  when  Juses  saw  the  Cross 
on  wich  he  was  to  be  crucified  all  is  bones  began 
to  shiver.     Peter  standing  by  said,  Jesus  Christ 
cure   all   Deseces,    Jesue   Christ   cure   thy  tooth 
ake."     The  following  is  a  copy  of  a  charm  also 
against  toothache,  stitched  inside  their  clothing 
and    worn   by   the    Lancashire   peasants.     "  Ass 
Sant  Petter  sat    at    the  geats  of  Jerusalem  our 
Blessed  Lord  and  Sevour  Jesus  Crist  Pased  by 
and  Sead,  What  Eleth  thee  ?    Hec  scad,  Lord,  my 
teeth  ecketh.     Hee  sead,  Arise  and  follow  mee 
and   they  teeth   shall   never   Eake   Ency  Mour. 
Fiat  ^ Fiat  ►I^ Fiat."  2     Among    cures   for    tooth- 
ache in  Jewish  folk-medicine  one  prescribes  the 

1  p.  181. 

^  Lancashire  Folk-lore,  p.  77,  Harland  and  Wilkinson. 


200  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

driving  of  a  nail  into  the  wall,  the  formula,  "  Adar 
Gar  Vedar  Gar  "  being  uttered,  and  then  followed 
by  these  words,  "  Even  as  this  nail  is  firm  in  the 
wall  and  is  not  felt,  so  let  the  teeth  of  So-and-so, 
a  son  of  So-and-so,  be  firm  in  his  mouth,  and 
give  him  no  pain."  Cure-charms  for  toothache 
are  widespread.  One  from  Devonshire  runs  thus  : 
"  All  glory  !  all  glory  !  all  glory  be  to  the  Father, 
and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost.  As  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  was  walking  in  the 
garden  of  Gethsemane,  He  saw  Peter  weeping. 
He  called  him  unto  Him,  and  said,  '  Peter,  why 
weepest  thou?'  Peter  answered  and  said,  'Lord 
I  am  grievously  tormented  with  pain,  the  pain  of 
my  tooth.'  Our  Lord  answered  and  said,  '  If 
thou  wilt  believe  in  Me,  and  My  words  abide 
with  thee,  thou  shalt  never  feel  any  more  pain 
in  thy  tooth.'  Peter  said,  '  Lord,  I  believe;  help 
Thou   my   unbelief.'     In   the    Name,    etc.,    God 

grant ease  from  the  pain  in  his  teeth."     (In 

certain  parts  of  Devonshire  it  is  believed  that  to 
enter  a  church  at  midnight  and  walk  three  times 
round  the  communion  table  is  a  preservative 
against  fits.)  There  is  a  popular  belief  that  the 
words  "  All  glory,"  etc.,  are  in  the  Bible.  Mr. 
Black,  in  his  Folk  Medicine,  quotes  the  story  of  a 
clergyman  who  said  to  one  of  his  sick  parishioners 
when  she  recited  the  charm,  "  Well,  but,  dame  : 
I  know  my  Bible  and  I  don't  find  any  such  verse 


MANA   IN   WORDS  201 

in  it."  The  reply  was,  "  Yes,  your  Reverence, 
that  is  just  the  charm.  It's  in  the  Bible,  and 
you  can't  find  it."  Wliich  line  of  argument 
should  commend  itself  to  metaphysicians  who 
hunt  in  the  dark  for  a  cat  that  isn't  there.  This 
variant  comes  from  the  Island  of  Mull.  "  In  the 
name  of  the  Lord  God.  Peter  sat  on  a  marble 
stone  weeping.  Christ  came  by  and  asked 
'What  aileth  thee,  Peter?'  Peter  said  'O 
Lord  God  my  teeth  doth  itchie.'  Christ  said, 
'  Arise  Peter  and  be  whole  and  not  only  thou 
but  all  them  that  carries  these  lines  for  My  Name's 
sake  shall  never  have  toothache.'  " 

According  to  the  Gnostic  Valentinus,  his  name 
came  down  upon  Jesus  in  the  form  of  a  dove 
at  his  baptism.  From  the  earliest  Christian  era 
onwards  it  was  held  to  possess  special  magic 
power.  According  to  the  Gospel  of  St.  Mark 
these  were  the  parting  words  of  Jesus  :  "  In  My 
Name  shall  they  cast  out  demons  .  .  .  they 
shall  take  up  serpents  .  .  .  they  shall  lay  hands 
on  the  sick  and  they  shall  recover."  ^  Wlien  Jesus 
was  in  Capernaum  he  would  not  rebuke  "  one 

1  "The  critical  study  of  the  New  Testament,  as  Loisy 
and  others  of  his  school  point  out,  shows  that  Jesus  was 
undoubtedly  a  child  of  his  time,  that  he  shewed  many  of 
its  intellectual  limitations  and  many  of  its  views,  both 
philosophical,  historical  and  eschatological ;  that  some  of 
these  views  have  long  been  outgrown  and  some  have  been 
shown  false  by  history.     Jesus,  we  have  learned,  was  not 


202  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

casting  out  demons  in  his  name."  "  Forbid  him 
not,"  he  said,  "  for  there  is  no  man  which  shall 
do  a  miracle  in  my  name  that  can  lightly  speak 
evil  of  me."  Sometimes,  as  in  this  charm  for  the 
cure  of  bleeding,  the  name  of  Jesus  was  coupled 
with  some  event  in  his  life.  "  Jesus  that  was 
in  Bethlehem  born  and  baptized  was  in  the 
flumen  Jordane,  as  stante  (stood)  the  water  at 
hys  comying,  so  stante  the  blood  of  thys  man 
N.  they  servaunte  thorw  the  virtue  of  thy  holy 
name  ^  from  and  of  thy  cosyn  swete  Sent  Jon. 
And  say  thys  charm  fyve  times  with  fyve  Pater- 
Nosters  in  the  worship  of  the  fyve  woundys." 

a  supernatural  being." — Hibbert  Journal,  January  1919, 
p.  273,  "  Again  what  is  Christianity?  "  Prof.  J.  B.  Pratt. 

He  accepted  the  ciurent  belief  which  attributed  bodily 
and  mental  disorders  to  demons.  The  woman  whom  he 
delivered  from  "  the  spirit  of  infirmity "  he  declared  to 
have  been  bound  by  Satan  for  eighteen  years  (Luke  xiii,  16), 
and  the  story  of  the  demon-infested  Gadarene  swine  supplies 
another  example  of  his  "  limitations." 

What  entanglements  in  labyrinths  of  logomachies  would 
have  been  escaped ;  what  economy  of  conjectures  effected 
— to  say  nothing  of  the  hatred  and  awful  bloodshed  avoided 
— had  theories  of  the  divinity  of  Jesus  never  been  formu- 
lated. They  are  still  being  woven;  modern  theologians 
think  to  escape  the  dilemma  by  suggestions  that  Jesus 
voluntarily  emptied  himself,  for  the  time  being,  of  his 
Omniscience;  that,  as  Bishop  Gore  puts  it,  "the  Very  God 
habitually  spoke  in  His  incarnate  life  on  earth  under  the 
limitations  of  a  properly  human  consciousness  " ;  or,  as 
Mr.  Chapman  says  in  an  Appendix  to  his  Introduction  to 
the  Pentateuch,  "  in  some  manner  the  Divine  Omniscience 
was  held  in  abeyance,  and  not  translated  into  the  sphere 
of  human  action  "  (p.  304). 


MANA   IN   WORDS  203 

In  his  Medieval  Garner,^  Mr.  Coulton  refers  to 
"  a  little  book  still  bought  by  country  folk  in 
which  the  Prayer  of  Seventy-two  names  of  God 
is  preceded  by  this  rubric  :  '  Here  are  the  names 
of  Jesus  Christ  :  whosoever  shall  carry  them  upon 
him  in  a  journey,  whether  by  land  or  sea,  shall 
be  preserved  from  all  kinds  of  dangers  and  perils, 
if  he  say  them  with  faith  and  devotion.'  "  ^ 

To  the  lame  beggar  who  was  laid  daily  at  the 
door  of  the  temple  which  is  called  Beautiful, 
Peter  said :  "  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none,  but 
such  as  I  have  give  I  to  thee;  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth  rise  up  and  walk,"  ^ 
and  the  man  was  cured.  Peter  tells  the  marvel- 
ling crowd  that  "  his  name  through  faith  in  the 
name  hath  made  this  man  strong."  So  with 
"  the  damsel  possessed  with  a  spirit  of  divination." 
Paul  said  to  the  spirit,  *'  I  command  thee  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ  to  come  out  of  her."  And 
he  came  out  the  same  hour.^  That  mana  was 
believed  to  be  possessed  by  the  apostle  Peter  has 
evidence  in  the  record  of  the  multitudes  of  sick 

1  p.  205. 

2  The  great  Babylonian  god,  Mardnk,  had  fifty  names, 
each  denoting  an  attribute. — Religion  in  Babylonia  and 
Assyria,  p.  40,  Prof.  M.  Jastrow.  "  The  gods  name  the 
fifty  names  of  Ninib  and  the  name  of  fifty  becomes  sacred 
to  him,  so  that  even  in  the  time  of  Gudea  (c.  2350  b.c.)  a 
temple  was  actually  dedicated  to  Number  Fifty." — Greece 
and  Babylon,  p.  177,  Dr.  Farnell. 

3  Acts  iii.  6. 

*  lb.,  xvi.  16. 


204  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

folk  who  were  "  brought  forth  into  the  streets 
and  laid  on  beds  and  couches  that  at  least  the 
shadow  of  Peter  passing  by  might  overshadow 
them."  1  More  tangible  were  the  vehicles  of 
special  miracles  which  God  wrought  by  the  hands 
of  Paul,  "  so  that  from  his  body  were  brought  unto 
the  sick  handkerchiefs  or  aprons  and  the  diseases 
departed  from  them  and  the  evil  spirit  went  out 
of  them."  2  The  passage  has  value  as  evidence 
of  belief  in  disease-demons.  In  his  Contra 
Celsum  (Book  III.  24)  Origen,  who  lived  in  the 
second  century,  says  that  he  himself  had  seen 
men  whose  diseases  "  neither  men  nor  demons 
could  heal,"  cured  by  simply  calling  on  the 
name  of  God  and  Jesus.  Ai^nobius,  who  wrote 
in  the  early  part  of  the  fourth  century,  says  in 
his  Adversus  Gentes  :  "  Whose  name  [i.  e.  Jesus] 
when  heard,  puts  to  flight  evil  spirits,  imposes 
silence  on  soothsayers,  preserves  men  from  con- 
sulting the  augurs,  and  frustrates  the  efforts  of 
magicians."  ^ 

From  about  this  period  dates  the  elaboration 
of  Christian  ritual.  Altars,  shrines  and  churches, 
the  "  natures  "  (i.  e.  the  inherent  qualities)  of 
oil,  water,  salt,  candles,  even  of  hassocks,  were 
consecrated  by  repeating  over  them  the  formula 
"  In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,"  or  "  In  the  name 

1  Acts  V.  15.  2  ijj  ^  xix.  12. 

^  Roman  Life  and  Manners,  Vol.  III.  138,  L.  Friedlander. 


MANA  IN  WORDS  205 

of  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost."  It  was 
believed,  and,  in  essence  the  belief  survives,  that 
the  invocation  of  these  names  expelled  any  lurk- 
ing demonic  taint  in  these  things  and  imparted 
to  them  a  transcendental  element  which  made 
them  impervious  to  the  attacks  of  the  Evil  One, 
or  of  his  myrmidons  or  agents  of  black  magic. 

It  is  recorded  of  the  Venerable  Sister  Serafia 
that  "  the  very  name  of  Jesus  was  of  so  sweet  a 
taste  in  her  mouth  that  on  uttering  it  she  fre- 
quently swooned  away  and  was  therefore  obliged 
to  deprive  herself  of  this  joy  in  the  presence  of 
others  till  she  was  given  sufficient  robustness  of 
spirit  to  repress  these  external  movements."  ^ 
The  modern  chm'ch-  or  chapel-goer  knows  no  such 
ecstasy  as  this,  but  in  some  way,  rarely  defined 
to  himself  clearly,  his  emotions  are  touched,  and 
the  divine  presence  itself  seems  nearer  when  he 
sings— 

"  How  sweet  the  name  of  Jesus  sounds 
In  a  believer's  ear, 
It  soothes  his  sorrows,  heals  his  wounds 
And  drives  away  his  fear. 

"  O  Jesus,  sweetest,  holiest  name 
To  God's  dear  children  given, 
A  solace  in  their  weariness, 
A  foretaste  of  their  heaven. 
No  name  has  such  a  power  as  this 
To  heal  the  broken-hearted." 


^  Siren  Land,  p.  169,  Norman  Douglas. 


206  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

Doubtless  this  belief  in  mana  in  the  Name  of 
Jesus  accounts  for  the  action  of  the  obscurants  of 
the  Upper  House  of  Convocation  in  passing  on 
the  8th  July  1919  a  resolution  "  to  provide  Collects 
Epistles  and  Gospels  for  the  Name  of  Jesus."  ^ 

An  old,  old  story.  Erasmus  tells  how  he  once 
"  heard  a  grave  divine  of  fourscore  years  at  least 
...  he  taking  upon  him  to  treat  of  the  mysteri- 
ous name  Jesus,  did  very  subtly  pretend  that 
in  the  very  letters  was  contained  whatever  could 
be  said  of  it.  For  first,  it  being  declined  only 
with  three  cases  did  expressly  point  out  the 
trinity  of  persons,  then  that  the  nominative 
ended  in  S,  the  accusative  in  M  and  the  ablative 
in  U,  did  imply  some  unspeakable  mystery,  viz., 
that  in  words  of  those  initial  letters  Christ  was 
the  summus  or  beginning,  the  medius  or  middle, 
and  the  ultimus  or  end  of  all  things.  There  was 
yet  a  more  abstruse  riddle  to  be  explained,  which 
was  by  dividing  the  word  Jesus  into  two  parts 
and  separating  the  S  in  the  middle  from  the  two 
extreme  syllables,  making  a  kind  of  pentameter, 
the  word  consisting  of  five  letters.  And  this 
intermedial  S  being  in  the  Hebrew  alphabet  called 
Sin,  which  in  the  English  language  signifies  what 
the  Latins  term  peccatum,  was  urged  to  imply  that 
the  holy  Jesus  should  purify  us  from  all  sin 
and  wickedness."  These,  says  Erasmus  in  his 
1  The  Times,  July  9,  1919. 


MANA   IN   WORDS  207 

caustic  vein,  "  are  among  a  great  many  dis- 
coveries whicli  had  never  come  to  light  if  they 
had  not  struck  the  fire  of  subtlety  out  of  the 
flint  of  obscurity."  ^ 

In  his  Rosa  Medicince  generally  called  the 
Rosa  Anfica,  which  is  mentioned  by  Chaucer  as 
forming  part  of  the  library  of  his  "  Doctor  of 
Physic,"  and  which  was  written  about  1314,  the 
author,  John  of  Gaddesden,  thus  commends  his 
treatise :  "  As  the  rose  overtops  all  flowers,  so 
this  book  outtops  all  treatises  on  the  practice  of 
medicin,  and  is  written  for  both  poor  and  rich 
surgeon  and  physician  .  .  .  who  will  find  plenty 
about  all  curable  disease."  The  book  is  rich  in 
remedies  for  toothache,  charms  and  prayers  form- 
ing the  chief  ingredient  in  these.  One  example 
will  suffice.  "  Write  these  words  on  the  jaw  of 
the  patient  :  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  Amen.  ^  Rex  >h  Pax  >b 
Nax  :  in  Christo  Filio  and  the  pain  will  cease 
at  once,  as  I  have  often  seen." 

In  Devonshire  a  sufferer  from  "  white  leg  "  has 
a  bandage  put  upon  the  limb  and  this  formula 
repeated  nine  times,  each  time  to  be  followed  by 
the  Lord's  Prayer.  "  As  Jesus  Christ  was  walk- 
ing he  saw  the  Virgin  Mary  sitting  on  a  cold  stone, 
He  said  unto  her,  '  If  it  is  a  white  ill  thing,  or  a 
red  ill  thing,  or  a  black  ill  thing,  or  a  sticking, 
1  The  Praise  of  Folly,  pp.  141,  153. 


208  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

cracking,  pricking,  stabbing,  bone  ill  thing,  or  a 
sore  ill  thing,  a  swelling  ill  thing,  or  a  rotten  ill 
thing,  or  a  cold  creeping  ill  thing,  or  a  smarting 
ill  thing — let  it  fall  from  thee  to  the  Earth  in 
My  Name  and  in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  Son 
and  Holy  Ghost,  Amen.' "  The  Virgin  and 
Son  are  coupled  in  this  Scotch  charm  for  sores — 

"  Their  soirs  are  risen  through  God's  work 
And  must  be  laid  through  God's  help. 
The  Mother  Mary  and  her  dear  Son 
Lay  their  soirs  that  are  begun." 

John  Mirfield,  a  London  physician  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  "  treated  chronic  rheumatism  by 
rubbing  the  part  with  olive  oil.  This  was  to  be 
put  into  a  clean  vessel  while  the  pharmacist  made 
the  sign  of  the  cross  and  said  two  prayers  over  it, 
and  when  the  vessel  was  put  on  the  fire  Psalm  II 
'  Quare  fremuerunt  gentes '  was  to  be  said  as  far 
as  the  eighth  verse,  '  Postula  a  me  et  daho  tibi 
gentes  hereditatem  tuam.''  The  Gloria  and  two 
prayers  are  then  to  be  said  and  the  whole  repeated 
seven  times."  The  mixture  of  prayers  with 
pharmacy  seems  odd  to  us,  but  let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  Mirfield  wrote  in  a  religious  house, 
that  clocks  were  scarce  and  watches  unknown, 
and  that  in  that  age  and  place  there  was  nothing 
inappropriate  in  measuring  time  by  the  minutes 
required  for  the  repetition  of  so  many  verses  of 
Scripture     and     so    many    prayers.      The     time 


MANA   IN   WORDS  209 

occupied  I  have  reckoned  to  be  one  quarter  of 
an  hour.^ 

The  Greek  Church  has  special  forms  of  prayer 
for  victims  of  the  evil  eye,  but  the  peasants  have 
more  faith  in  the  incantations  of  a  witch,  who 
starts  her  remedy  with  invocations  to  Christ, 
the  Virgin,  the  Trinity  and  the  twelve  Apostles, 
following  these  with  adjurations  to  the  evil  eye 
to  depart,  while  she  fumigates  the  patient  with 
incense  or  burns  something  belonging  to  the 
suspected  enemy  who  has  "  overlooked  "  him, 
the  final  mana  being  a  recital  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  .2 

Horns,  as  symbolic  of  the  lunar  cusps,  are  a 
common  form  of  amulet  against  the  evil  eye, 
whether  "  overlooking  "  man  or  beast,  and  the 
superstitious  Italians  believe  that  in  default  of  a 
horn  or  some  horn-shaped  object,  the  mere  utter- 
ance of  the  word  corno  or  coma  is  an  effective 
talisman.  Mr.  Elworthy  tells  of  a  fright  which 
he  unwittingly  gave  a  second-hand  bookseller  in 
Venice  when  asking  about  a  copy  of  Valletto's 
Cicalata  sul  Fascino.  On  hearing  the  last  two 
words  of  the  title,  "  the  man  actually  turned  and 
bolted  into  his  inner  room,  leaving  the  customer 
in  full  possession  of  the  entire  stock."     In  modern 

*  Hist  of  Study  of  Medicine  in  the  British  Isles,  Norman 
Moore,  M.D. 

^  Lawson,  p.  14. 
p 


210  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

Greece  garlic  is  one  of  the  popular  antidotes  to 
the  evil  eye,  so  the  term  oxopSov  is  used  to  undo 
the  effect  of  any  hasty  or  inauspicious  words. 
The  German  peasant  says  unberufen  ^  ("  unspoken 
or  called  back  "),  and  raps  three  times  upon  wood 
if  any  word  "  tempting  Providence  "  has  fallen 
from  his  lips.  Many  a  fragment  of  cabalistic 
writing  is  cherished  and  concealed  about  their 
persons  by  the  rustics  of  Western  Europe  as 
safeguards  against  maleficence;  and  not  a  few 
still  resort,  in  times  of  perplexity,  to  the  vener- 
able form  of  divining  fate  by  opening  the  Bible 
or  some  devotional  book  at  random,  hoping  to 
see  in  the  passage  that  first  catches  the  eye 
direction  as  to  action,  or  some  monition  of  the 
future.  For  this  purpose  the  ancients  consulted 
the  Iliad  or  the  JEneid ;  but,  changing  only  the 
instrument,  while  retaining  the  belief,  Sortes 
Ho7nericce  and  Sortes  Virgiliance  have  been  super- 

^  The  origin  of  the  association  of  this  word  with  touching 
wood  is  obscure.  One  explanation  is  that  in  so  doing  there 
is  invoked  the  aid  of  Christ,  whose  death  on  the  Cross 
sanctified  the  wood.  Another  is  that  the  custom  is  a 
survival  of  the  mediaeval  practice  of  carrying  about  a  relic 
of  the  Cross  and  touching  it  as  a  charm  against  black  magic. 
A  third  suggestion  is  that  in  the  days  when  churches  were 
sanctuaries  where  criminals  took  refuge,  they  could  not  be 
dislodged  so  long  as  they  clung  to  the  wooden  rails  of  the 
altar  !  These  far-fetched  "  explanations  "  are  given  in  the 
hope  that  they  may  incite  to  search  for  the  source  of  what, 
in  a  far-away  past,  may  have  had  some  significance. 


MANA   IN  WORDS  211 

seded  by  Sortes  Biblicce.  Christina  Rossetti  told 
Mrs.  Katherine  Tynan  that  she  never  stepped  on 
a  scrap  of  paper  but  Hfted  it  out  of  the  mud,  lest 
perchance  it  should  have  the  Holy  Name  written 
or  printed  on  it.^ 

In  North  German  charm-cures  the  three 
maidens  (perchance  echoes  of  the  Norns)  who 
dwell  in  green  or  hollow  ways  gathering  herbs 
and  flowers  to  drive  away  disease,  may  reappear 
in  the  disguise  to  which  we  are  accustomed  in  the 
angels  of  many  a  familiar  incantation,  as  in  this 
for  scalds  or  burns — 

"  There  were  three  angels  from  East  and  West — 
One  brought  fire  and  another  brought  frost, 
And  the  third  it  was  the  Holy  Ghost, 
Out  fire,  in  frost,  in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  Son  an 
Holy  Ghost." 

Brand  gives  a  long  list  of  saints  whose  names 
are  invoked  against  special  diseases,  and  the 
efficacy  believed  to  attach  to  the  names  of  Joseph 
and  Mary  is  shown  by  sending  children  suffering 
from  whooping-cough  to  a  house  where  the 
master  and  mistress  are  so  named.  "  The  child 
must  ask,  or  rather  demand,  bread  and  butter. 
Joseph  must  cut  the  bread,  Mary  must  spread 
the  butter  and  give  the  shce  to  the  child,  then  a 
cure  will  certainly  follow." 

In  the  preparation  of  a  drink  for  the  frenzied 
^  Life  of  Francis  Thompson,  p.  209,  Everard  Meynell. 


212  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

the  Saxon  leech  recommended,  besides  recita- 
tions of  litanies  and  the  paternoster,  that  over 
the  herbs  twelve  masses  should  be  sung  in  honour 
of  the  twelve  apostles,  while  the  name  of  the  sick 
should  be  spoken  when  certain  simples  are  pulled 
up  for  his  use.^  The  gathering  of  medicinal  herbs 
was  accompanied  by  incantations.  Something  of 
poetic  charm  was  lost  when  these  formulae  to  the 
Earth  Mother,  or  All-Healer,  were  forbidden, 
although  the  recital  of  creeds  and  paternosters 
was  permitted.  Verbena,  in  Latin  "  a  sacred 
bough,"— our  vervain  or  "  holy  herb  "—was  thus 
addressed  when  being  plucked  — 

"  Hail  to  thee,  holy  herb 
Growing  on  the  ground, 
On  the  Mount  of  Olives 
First  wert  thou  found. 
Thou  art  good  for  many  an  ill, 
And  healest  many  a  wound, 
In  the  name  of  sweet  Jesus 
I  lift  thee  from  the  ground." 

Among  the  Amazulu,  the  sorcerer  Utaki  called 
Uncapayi  by  name  that  the  medicine  might  take 
due  effect  on  him.^  A  mediaeval  remedy  for 
removing  grit  from  the  eye  was  to  chant  the 
psalm  Qui  habitat  three  times  over  water  with 
which  the  eye   was  then  to  be  touched,   while 

1  Scucon  Leechdoms,  Vol.  II.  p.  139,  T.  Cockayne.  Quoted 
in  Black's  Folk  Medicine,  p.  91. 

2  Callaway,  p.  432. 


MANA   IN   WORDS  213 

modern  Welsh  folk-lore  tells  of  the  farmer  who, 
having  a  cow  sick  on  a  Sunday,  gave  her  physic, 
and  then,  fearing  that  she  was  dying,  ran  into 
the  house  to  fetch  a  Bible  and  read  a  chapter 
to  her.^  Per  contra,  "it  is  beyond  all  question  or 
dispute,"  said  Voltaire,  "  that  magic  words  and 
ceremonies  are  quite  capable  of  effectually  destroy- 
ing a  whole  flock  of  sheep,  if  the  words  be  accom- 
panied by  a  sufficient  quantity  of  arsenic."  An 
Abyssinian  remedy  for  fever  is  to  drench  the 
patient  daily  with  cold  water  for  a  week,  and  to 
read  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  to  him;  and  in  the 
Chinese  tale  of  the  Talking  Pupils,  Fang  is  cured 
of  blindness  by  a  man  reading  the  Kuang-ming 
sutra  to  him. 2 

The  apocryphal  letter  of  Christ  to  Abgar,  King 
of  Edessa,  was  in  great  favour  as  a  charm  against 
fever.  It  was  worn  on  the  person  or,  more  often, 
hung  on  door  lintels  with  this  assurance  of  its 
efficacy  :  '"''  Si  quis  epistolat  secum  habuerit  securus 
ambulet  in  pace. ^^  According  to  the  legend  the  king 
asked  Christ  to  come  and  heal  him,  and  Christ, 
in  reply,  promised  that  after  his  ascension  he 
would  send  a  disciple  to  him  as  healer.  Obvi- 
ously writings  held  sacred  would  be  credited 
with  healing  mana.  In  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon 
(ch.  xvi.  12)  it  says  :    "  For  of  a   truth  it  was 

^  Welsh  Folk-lore,  p.  244,  Elias  Owen. 

*  Strange  Stories  from  a  Chinese  Studio,  Vol.  I.  p.  6. 


214  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

neither  herb  nor  mollifying  plaster  that  cured 
them,  but  thy  word,^  O  Lord,  which  healeth  all 
things,"  and  in  the  Zend  Avesta  it  says,  "  Amongst 
all  remedies  this  is  the  healing  one  that  heals 
with  the  Holy  Word.  But,  surely,  sacred  texts 
have  never  been  so  remarkably  applied  as  in 
an  old  Welsh  custom  of  tying  round  the  legs 
of  fighting-cocks,  before  setting  them  to  work, 
biblical  verses  on  slips  of  paper,  a  popular  one 
being  that  from  Ephesians  vi.  16  :  "  Taking  the 
shield  of  faith  wherewith  ye  shall  be  able  to 
quench  all  the  fiery  darts  (spurs  ?)  of  the 
wicked." 

Among  the  Hindus,  doctors  would  be  regarded 
as  very  ignorant,  and  would  inspire  no  confidence 
if  they  were  unable  to  recite  the  special  mantram 
that  suits  each  complaint,  because  the  cure  is 
attributed  quite  as  much  to  the  mantram  as  to 
the  treatment.  It  is  because  the  European 
doctors  recite  neither  mantrams  nor  prayers  that 
the  native  puts  little  faith  in  their  medicines. 
Midwives  are  called  Mantradaris  because  the 
repeating  of  mantrams  by  them  is  held  to  be  of 
great  moment  at  the  birth  of  the  child.     "  Both 

1  "  The  greater  number  of  the  cures  in  the  Gospels  and 
Acts  are  by  the  Word,  usually  addressed  to  the  patient,  but 
in  three  instances  (Matt.  viii.  5;  xv.  22;  John  iv.  46)  ad- 
dressed to  the  parent  or  master  of  the  patient." — Encyclop. 
Biblica,  p.  3006.  In  Matt.  viii.  5,  the  centurion  said  to 
Jesus,  "  Speak  the  word  only  and  my  servant  shall  be 
healed." 


MANA  IN   WORDS  215 

the  new-born  babe  and  its  mother  are  regarded 
as  specially  liable  to  the  influence  of  the  evil  eye, 
the  inauspicious  combinations  of  unlucky  planets 
or  unlucky  days,  and  a  thousand  other  baleful 
elements.  And  a  good  midwife,  well-primed  with 
efficacious  mantrams,  foresees  all  these  dangei-s, 
and  averts  them  by  reciting  the  proper  words  at 
the  proper  moment."  ^  Obviously,  it  is  but  a  step 
from  listening  to  the  charm-working  words  of 
sacred  texts  to  swallowing  them;  hence  the 
Chinese  practice  of  burning  papers  on  which 
charms  are  written  and  mixing  the  ashes  with 
tea;  the  swallowing  of  written  spells  known  as 
"  edible  letters,"  given  by  the  Lamas  in  Tibet 
as  prophylactics,^  and  the  Moslem  practice  of 
washing  off  a  verse  of  the  Koran  and  drinking 
the  water .^  The  amulet  written  on  virgin  parch- 
ment, and  suspended  towards  the  sun  on  threads 
spun  by  a  virgin  named  Mary,  equates  itself  with 
the  well-known  cabalistic  Abracadabra  charm 
against  fevers  and  agues,  which  was  worn  for 
nine  days,  and  then  thrown  backwards  before 
sunrise  into  a  stream  running  eastward. 

1  Dubois,  Vol.  I.  p.  143. 

2  The  Buddhism  of  Tibet,  y).  401,  L.  A.  Waddell. 

3  In  his  Travels  in  the  Interior  Districts  of  Africa,  Mungo 
Park  says  that,  complying  with  the  request  of  a  Bambarra 
native  for  a  charm,  the  man  washed  off  the  writing  with 
water,  drank  the  mixture,  and  that  none  of  the  charm 
should  be  wasted,  licked  the  board  on  which  it  had  been 
written  (Vol.  I.  p.  357). 


216  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

A  long  chapter  could  be  written  on  Abracadabra 
and  its  kindred.  Symbols  have  played,  and  still 
play,  no  small  part  in  history.  Men  worship 
them,  fight  for  them,  die  for  them;  who  can 
measure  the  emotions  and  the  impulses  stirred  by 
a  piece  of  coloured  bunting?  Only  when  they 
become  credited  as  actual  prophylactics,  luck- 
bringers  and  the  like,  forming  the  stock-in-trade 
of  the  nonsense  of  Occultism,  do  they  fall  from 
their  high  estate. 

It  has  been  remarked  already  that  among  all 
barbaric  peoples  disease  and  death  are  bcheved 
to  be  the  work  of  evil  spirits,  either  of  their  own 
direct  malice  prepense  or  through  the  agency  of 
sorcerers.     "  Man   after   man   dies   in  the   same 
way,  but  it  never  occurs  to  the  savage  that  there 
is  one  constant  and  explicable  cause  to  account 
for  all  cases.     Instead  of  that,  he  regards  each 
successive  death  as  an  event  wholly  by  itself— 
apparently  unexpected — and  only  to  be  explained 
by  some  supernatural  agency."  ^    In  West  Africa, 
if  a   person   dies    without   shedding   blood   it   is 
looked  on  as  uncanny.     Miss  Mary  Kingsley  tells 
of  a  woman  who  dropped  down  dead  on  a  factory 
beach    at  Corisco  Bay.     The    natives   could    not 
make  it  out  at  all.     They  were  irritated  about 
her  conduct.     "She  no  sick;    she  no  complain; 
she  no  nothing,  and  then  she  go  die  one  time." 
The  post-mortem  showed  a  burst  aneurism.     The 
*  Three  Years  in  Savage  Africa,  p.  512,  L.  Decle. 


MANA   IN  WORDS  217 

native  verdict  was,  "  She  done  witch  herself," 
i.  e.  she  was  a  witch  eaten  by  her  own  famihar.^ 
That  verdict  was  logical  enough,  as  logical  as 
that  delivered  by  English  juries  two  centuries 
ago  under  which  women  were  hanged  as  witches. 
In  trying  two  widows  for  witchcraft  at  Bury 
St.  Edmunds  in  1664,  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  a 
humane  and  able  judge,  laid  it  down  in  his  charge 
"  that  there  are  such  creatures  as  witches  I  make 
no  doubt  at  all;  the  Scripture  affirms  it,  and  the 
wisdom  of  all  nations  has  provided  laws  against 
such  persons."  Given  a  belief  in  spirits,  the 
evidence  of  their  direct  or  indirect  activity 
appears  in  aught  that  is  unusual,  or  which  has 
sufficing  explanation  in  the  theory  of  demoniacal 
activity.  In  barbaric  belief,  the  soul  or  intelli- 
gent principle  in  which  a  man  lives,  moves,  and 
has  his  being,  plays  all  sorts  of  pranks  in  his 
normal  life,  quitting  the  body  at  sleep  or  in  swoons, 
thereby  giving  employment  to  an  army  of  witch- 
doctors in  setting  traps  to  capture  it  for  a  ruinous 
fee.  Consequently,  all  the  abnormal  things  that 
happen  are  attributed  to  the  wilfulness  of  alien 
spirits  that  enter  the  man  and  do  the  miscliief.^ 
The  phenomena  attending  diseases  lend  further 

^  Travels  in  W.  Africa,  p.  468. 

2  In  1882  a  Shropshire  man  found  in  the  crevice  of  one 
of  the  joists  of  his  kitchen  chimney  a  folded  paper  sealed 
with  red  wax,  containing  these  words  :  "  I  charge  all 
witches  and  ghosts  to  depart  from  this  house  in  the  great 
names  of  Jehovah  and  Alpha  and  Omega," 


218  MAGIC   IN   NAMES 

support  to  the  theory.  When  anyone  is  seen 
twisting  and  writhing  in  agony  which  wrings 
piercing  shrieks  from  him,  or  when  he  shivers 
and  shakes  with  ague,  or  is  flung  to  the  ground 
in  convulsive  fit,  or  runs  "  amok "  with  inco- 
herent ravings  and  with  wild  light  flashing  from 
his  eyes,  the  logical  explanation  is  that  a  disease- 
demon  has  entered  and  "  possessed  "  him.  In 
Assyria  all  disease  was  ascribed  to  demons,  and 
divination  was  employed  to  find  out  their  names. 
When  this  was  successful,  the  demon  was  exorcised 
by  a  recital  of  the  names  of  Marduk  or  the  other 
great  gods,  or  by  making  an  image  of  the  demon 
and  then  ill-treating  it.  These  images  have  been 
found  in  Assyrian  palaces  and,  according  to  some 
authorities,  are  the  originals  of  the  horned  and 
tailed  devils  of  mediaeval  and,  till  lately,  of  modern 
Christian  conceptions.^ 

^  "  Ottawa,  August  1. — Indian  tribal  custom  and  the 
Canadian  laws  have  come  into  collision  in  the  North-West 
Territories.  A  Cree  chief  and  a  medicine-man  are  under 
arrest  at  Norway  House,  Keewatin,  for  the  murder  of  a 
squaw,  who,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  tribe,  was 
strangled  while  she  was  suffering  from  delirium,  with  the 
idea  of  preventing  the  evil  spirit  from  escaping.  The 
Minister  of  Justice  will  order  a  special  trial." — Renter,  Daily 
Chronicle,  August  1,  1907. 

"  The  New  York  correspondent  of  the  Daily  Mail  states 
that  a  terrible  murder  committed  in  the  name  of  religion, 
is  reported  from  Zion  City,  where  Mrs.  Letitia  Greenhaulgh 
has  been  tortured  to  death  by  her  own  son  and  daughter 
and  three  other  members  of  the  sect  of  Parhamites,  who 


MANA   IN   WORDS  219 

The  antiquity  of  the  demon-theory  of  disease 
has  curious  illustration  in  the  prehistoric  and 
long-surviving  practice  of  trepanning  skulls  so 
that  the  disease-bringing  spirit  might  escape. 
Doubtless  the  disorders  arising  from  brain- 
pressure,  diseased  bone,  convulsions,  and  so 
forth,  led  to  the  application  of  a  remedy  which, 
in  the  improved  form  of  a  cylindrical  saw,  and 
other  mechanism  composing  the  trephine,  modern 
surgery  has  not  disdained  to  use  where  removal 
of  a  portion  of  the  skull  or  brain  is  found  neces- 
sary to  afford  relief.  Prehistoric  trepanning,  as 
evidenced  by  the  skulls  found  in  dolmens,  caves, 
and  other  burying-places  all  the  world  over,  from 
the  Isle  of  Bute  to  Peru,  was  effected  by  flint 
scrapers,  and  fragments  of  the  skulls  of  the  dead 
who  had  been  thus  operated  upon  were  cut  off 
to  be  used  as  amulets  by  the  living,  or  placed 
inside  the  skulls  themselves  as  charms  against  the 

declared  that  it  was  necessary  to  exorcise  the  evil  spirit 
from  the  body  of  the  feeble,  rheumatic  old  woman.  The 
five  fanatics  knelt  by  the  bedside  of  the  aged  parent,  and 
after  prayer  jerked  and  twisted  her  limbs.  Mrs.  Green- 
haulgh's  cries  were  greeted  with  triumphant  shouts  as  being 
the  agonized  exclamations  of  the  demon.  Finally,  the 
old  woman's  neck  was  broken  and  the  '  demon '  ceased 
groaning.  Then  the  fanatics  began  the  ceremony  of  resur- 
recting the  patient,  but  their  combined  efforts  failed  to  re- 
store the  corpse  to  life.  All  five  have  been  arrested  and 
will  be  tried  on  the  capital  charge." — Globe,  September  21, 
1907. 


220  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

dead  being  further  vexed  .^    The  trepannings  in 

Michigan,  about  which  we  have  more  complete 

details,  were  always  made  after  death,  and  only 

on  adults  of  the  male  sex.^    They  were  probably 

obtained    by    means    of  a   polished   stone   drill, 

which  was  turned  round  rapidly.     Whether,  or  in 

what  degree,  the  Neolithic  surgeon  supplemented 

his  rude  scalpel  by  the  noisy  incantations  which 

are  part  of  the  universal  stock-in-trade  of  the 

savage  medicine-man,  we  shall  never  know;  but 

the  practice  of  his  representatives  warrants  the 

inference  which  connects  him  with  the  mantram- 

reciters,  the  charm-singers,  and  all  others  who 

to   this   day   believe  that  the   Word   of   Power 

is   the   most  essential  ingredient  in  the  remedy 

applied. 

In  every  department  of  human  thought  there  is 

present  evidence  of  the  persistence  of  primitive 

ideas.     Scratch  the  epiderm  of  the  civilized  man, 

and  the  barbarian  is  found  in  the  derm.     Man  is 

the  same  everywhere  at  bottom;    if  there  are 

many  varieties,  there  is   but  one  species.     His 

civilization  is  the  rare  topmost  shoot  of  the  tree 

whose  roots  are  in  the  earth,  and  whose  trunk  and 

larger  branches  are  in  savagery.     Hence,  although 

the  study  of  anatomy  and  physiology — in  other 

words,  of  structure  and  function — paved  the  way, 

^  Prehistoric  Problems,  pp.  191  foil.,  R.  Munro. 
2  Prehistoric  America,  p.  510,  M.  Nadaillac. 


MANA   IN   WORDS  221 

no  real  advance  in  pathology  was  possible  until 
the  fundamental  unity  and  interdependence  of 
mind  and  body  were  made  clear,  the  recency  of 
which  demonstration  explains  the  persistency  of 
barbaric  theories  of  disease  in  civilized  societies. 
The  Dacotah  medicine-man  reciting  charms  over 
the  patient  and  singing  "  He-la-li-ah  "  to  the 
music  of  beads  rattling  inside  a  gourd,  is  the  pre- 
cursor of  the  Chaldean  with  his  incantations  to 
drive  away  the  "  wicked  demon  who  seizes  the 
body,  or  the  wind  spirit  whose  hot  breath  brings 
fever,"  and  to  cure  "  the  disease  of  the  forehead 
which  proceeds  from  the  infernal  regions."  The 
drinking  of  holy  water  and  herb  decoctions  out  of  a 
church  bell,  to  the  saying  of  masses,  so  that  the 
demon  might  be  exorcised  from  the  possessed, 
had  warrant,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  legends  which 
tell  of  the  casting-out  of  "  devils  "  by  Jesus  and, 
through  the  invocation  of  his  Name,  by  the 
apostles ;  while  the  continuity  of  barbaric  ideas 
in  their  grosser  form  has  illustration  in  the 
practice  of  a  modern  brotherhood  in  the  Church 
of  England — ^the  Society  of  St.  Osmund — based 
on  the  theory  that  not  only  unclean  swine,  but 
the  sweet  flowers  themselves,  are  the  habitat  of 
evil  spirits.  In  the  Services  of  Holy  Week  from 
the  Sarum  Missal,  the  "  Clerks  "  are  directed  to 
"  venerate  the  Cross,  with  feet  unshod,"  and  to 
perform  other  ceremonies  which  are  preceded  by 


222  MAGIC  IN  NAMES 

the  driving  of  the  devil  out  of  flowers  through 
the  following  "  power  of  the  word  " — 

"  I  exorcise  thee,  creature  of  flowers  or 
branches  :  in  the  Name  of  God  ►$<  the  Father 
Almighty,  and  in  the  Name  of  Jesus  Christ  >b 
His  Son,  our  Lord,  and  in  the  power  of  the  >h 
Holy  Ghost;  and  henceforth  let  all  strength  of 
the  adversary,  all  the  host  of  the  devil,  every 
power  of  the  enemy,  every  assault  of  fiends,  be 
expelled  and  utterly  driven  away  from  this 
creature  of  flowers  or  branches."  Here  the 
flowers  and  leaves  shall  be  sprinkled  with  Holy 
Water,  and  censed  (pp.  3-5). 

Reference  to  names  reputed  divine  should 
include  that  of  the  Virgin  Mary  who,  according  to 
the  Gospel  of  James  (commonly  called  the  Prot- 
evangelium),  was  miraculously  conceived  "  from 
the  Word  of  the  Lord  of  all  "  (ch.  xi.).  She  was 
proclaimed  Mother  of  God  at  the  (Ecumenical 
Council  held  at  Ephesus  a.d.  431,  and  the  worship 
of  her  name  remains  a  feature  of  Roman  Catholi- 
cism :  the  Sunday  within  the  octave  of  the 
Nativity  being  "  the  Feast  of  the  Most  Holy  Name 
of  Mary."  Concerning  it,  a  Roman  Catholic 
school-book  says,  "  This  name,  say  the  holy 
Fathers,  had  not  its  origin  on  earth,  it  came 
from  heaven,  from  the  treasury  of  the  Divinest. 
.  .  .  Invoke  every  day  the  holy  name  of  Mary."  ^ 
1  Manual  of  the  Children  of  Mary,  p.  339. 


MANA   IN   WORDS  223 

Where,  among  our  pagan  ancestors  flowers  and 
insects  had  been  named  after  the  "lady,"  Freyja, 
goddess  of  plenty,  that  of  Mary  was  given  to 
them.  As  symbol  of  her  purity,  rose  and  lily 
have  an  honoured  place.  Fancy  has  run  riot  in 
finding  mystic  meanings  in  her  name,  "  the  sounds 
and  signs  of  which  it  is  composed  witness  how 
all  natural  perfections  are  united  in  the  being 
of  the  Virgin."  ^    She  has  mana  in  supreme  degree. 

^  The  Sacred  Shrine,  p.  547,  Yrjo  Hirn. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   NAME   AND   THE   SOUL 

At  the  close  of  this  survey  of  evidence  that  the 
name  is  beheved  by  barbaric  and  semi-civilized 
people  to  be  an  integral  part  of  a  man,  the  ques- 
tion which  suggests  itself  is,  What  part  ? 

The  importance  attached  by  the  ancient 
Egyptians  to  the  name  in  connection  with  its 
owner's  personality  has  been  already  referred  to. 
They  had  no  doubt  whatever  that  if  the  name 
were  blotted  out,  the  man  ceased  to  exist.  In 
their  composite  and  conglomerate  theories  of 
the  individual  we  have  refinements  of  distinction 
which  surpass  anything  known  in  cognate  bar- 
baric ideas.  The  Hidatsa  Indians  believe  that 
every  human  being  has  four  souls  which  at  death 
depart  one  after  the  other.  But  this  is  simplicity 
itself  compared  to  Egyptian  ontology.  In  this 
we  find  (1)  the  sahn^  or  spiritual  body;  then 
(2)  the  ka,  or  double  (other-self),  which,  although 
its  normal  dwelling-place  was  the  tomb,  could 
wander  at  will,  and  even  take  up  its  abode  in 
the  statue  of  a  man.  It  could  eat  and  drink, 
and,  if  the  sweet  savour  of  incense  and  other 

224 


THE  NAME   AND   THE   SOUL        225 

ethereal  offerings  failed,  could  content  itself 
with  feeding  on  the  viands  painted  on  the  walls 
of  the  tomb.  Then  there  was  (3)  the  ha,  or  soul, 
about  which  the  texts  reveal  opposing  views, 
but  which  is  usually  depicted  as  a  bird  with 
human  head  and  hands.  To  this  follow  (4)  the 
ah,  or  heart,  held  to  be  the  source  both  of  life 
and  of  good  and  evil  in  the  life,  and,  as  the  seat 
of  vital  power,  without  which  there  could  be  no 
resurrection  of  the  body,  jealously  guarded  against 
abstraction  by  the  placing  of  heart-shaped 
amulets  on  the  mummy.  Next  in  order  is  (5) 
the  khaihit,  or  shadow;  then  (6)  the  khu,  or 
shining  covering  of  the  spiritual  body  which 
dwelt  in  heaven  with  the  gods;  and  (7)  the 
sekhem,  or  personified  power  of  the  man.  Last, 
but  not  least,  was  (8)  the  Ran  or  Ren,  the  name  ; 
that  "  part  of  the  immortal  Ego,  without  which 
no  being  could  exist."  Extraordinary  precau- 
tions were  taken  to  prevent  the  extinction  of 
the  ren,  and  in  the  pyramid  texts  we  find  the 
deceased  making  supplication  that  it  may  flourish 
or  "  germinate  "  along  with  the  names  of  the 
gods.^ 

The  name-soul,  i,  e.  the  soul  itself,  was  inscribed 
on  scarabei,  amulets,  stone  talismans  and  other 
objects,  recalling  the  verse  in  Rev.  ii.  17,  "To 
him   that   overcometh  ...  I   will   give   a   white 

*  Budge,  pp.  Ixxxvi-xc;   Wiedemann,  pp.  240-243,  294. 


226  MAGIC  IN   NAMES 

stone,  and  in  the  stone  a  new  name  written 
which  no  man  knoweth  saving  he  who  receiveth 
it."  The  Egyptian  operation  of  "  making  the 
name  hve  "  ran  the  risk  of  exposing  it  to  the 
exorcism  of  an  enemy  :  hence  the  inscribed 
object  was  hidden  or  protected  by  some  threaten- 
ing formula. 

V  Civihzed  and  savage  are  at  one  in  their  identi- 
fication of  the  soul  with  something  intangible, 
as  breath,  shadow,  reflection,  flame,  and  so 
forth.  But  it  is  the  cessation  of  breathing 
which,  in  the  long  run,  came  to  be  noted  as  the 
never-failing  accompaniment  of  death ;  and  where 
the  condensation  of  the  exhaled  breath  is  visible, 
there  would  be  support  lent  to  the  theory  of 
souls  as  gaseous  or  ethereal,  a  theory  to  which 
support  is  given  by  the  people  who  dub  them- 
selves Spiritualists,  between  whom  and  savage 
races  the  only  difference  in  soul-conception  is 
the  degree  of  tenuity  of  vaporousness  accorded. 
Tlie  most  prominent  advocate  of  this  doctrine 
of  the  soul,  as  composed  of  diaphanous  stuff, 
says  that  "  it  will  turn  out  to  be  a  sort  of  ethereal 
body  as  opposed  to  our  obvious  material  body. 
.  .  .  Soul  will  become  as  real  and  recognizable, 
as  concrete  and  tractable  as  the  corpuscles  of 
electricity."  1       Obscurum     per     obscurius :     i.e. 

1  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  on  "  Ether,  Matter  and  the  Soul," 
Hibbert  Journal,  January  1919,  pp.  258,  259. 


THE   NAME   AND   THE   SOUL        227 

"  explain  the  obscure  by  something  more  obscure." 
In  every  language,  from  that  of  the  barbaric 
Aino  to  classic  Greek  and  modern  English,  the 
word  for  "  spirit  "  and  for  "  breath  "  is  the  same. 
Yah  we  (Jehovah)  breathed  into  Adam's  "  nostrils 
the  breath  of  life,  and  man  became  a  living 
soul  " ;  ^  and  in  barbaric  belief  the  soul  of  the 
dying  man  departs  through  his  nostrils.  It  is 
by  his  breath  that  the  medicine-man  among  the 
tribe  of  the  north-west  Amazons  works  his  cures ; 
"  sometimes  he  will  breathe  on  his  own  hand 
and  then  massage  the  affected  part."  ^  The 
association  between  breath  and  spiritual  transfer 
has  examples  in  Jesus  breathing  upon  the  disciples 
when  imparting  to  them  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
in  the  conferring  of  supernatural  grace  in  the 
rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  Wlien  an  ancient  Roman  lay  at  the 
point  of  death,  his  nearest  relative  inhaled  the 
last  breath  to  ensure  the  continuance  of  the 
spirit,  while  the  same  reason  prompted  the  act 
of  a  dying  Lancashire  witch,  a  friend  receiving 
her  last  breath,  and  with  it,  as  was  verily  believed, 
her  familiar  spirit.^  Sir  Thomas  Browne  says 
"that  they  sucked  in  the  last  breath  of  their 
expiring   friends    was    surely    a    practice    of   no 

1  Gen.  ii.  7. 

2  The  N.W.  Amazons,  p.  180,  Captain  T.  Whiffen. 

3  Lancashire  Folk-lore,  Harland  and  Wilkinson. 


228  MAGIC  IN   NAMES 

medical  institution,  but  a  loose  opinion  that 
the  soul  passed  out  that  way,  and  a  fondness  of 
affection,  from  some  Pythagorical  foundation 
that  the  spirit  of  one  body  passed  into  another 
which  they  wished  might  be  their  own."  ^  Hence, 
the  unsubstantial  "  name  "  falls  into  line  with 
the  general  nebulous  conception  of  "  spirit,"  and, 
were  barbaric  languages  less  mutable,  it  might 
be  possible  to  find  some  help  to  an  equation 
between  "  name  "  and  "  soul  "  in  them.  But 
as  even  seemingly  stable  things  like  numerals 
and  personal  pronouns  undergo  rapid  change 
among  the  lower  races,  "  two  or  three  genera- 
tions sufficing  to  alter  the  whole  aspect  of  their 
dialects  among  the  wild  and  unintelligent  tribes 
of  Siberia,  Africa,  and  Siam,"  the  search  is  hope- 
less. Some  light,  however,  is  thrown  upon  the 
matter  by  languages  in  which  favourable  cir- 
cumstances have  preserved  traces  of  family  like- 
ness and  of  mutations.  In  asking  the  question, 
whether  there  be  any  evidence  from  philology 
to  show  what  part  of  a  man  his  name  is  supposed 
to  be,  the  late  Prof.  Sir  John  Rhys  has  supplied 
materials  for  an  answer.  He  says  that  "  as 
regards  the  Aryan  nations  we  seem  to  have  a 
clue  in  an  interesting  group  of  words  from  which 
I  select  the  following  :  Irish  ainm,  '  a  name,' 
plural  annam ;  Old  Welsh  ami,  now  enw,  also  a 
1  Hydriotaphia,  Works,  Vol.  III.  p.  130  (1907  Edition). 


THE   NAME   AND   THE   SOUL       229 

name ;  Old  Bulgarian  ime  ;  Old  Russian  emnes, 
emmens,  accusative  emnan,  and  Armenian  anwan — 
all  meaning  '  a  name.'  To  these  some  scholars 
would  add,  and  rightly,  I  think,  the  English 
word  name  itself,  the  Latin  nomen,  Sanskrit 
naman,  and  the  Greek  ovoy.a ;  but,  as  some  others 
find  a  difficulty  in  thus  grouping  these  last- 
mentioned  words,  I  abstain  from  laying  any  stress 
on  them.  In  fact,  I  have  every  reason  to  be 
satisfied  with  the  wide  extent  of  the  Aryan 
world  covered  by  the  other  instances  which  I 
have  enumerated  as  Celtic,  Prussian,  Bulgarian, 
and  Armenian.  Now,  such  is  the  similarity 
between  Welsh  enw,  '  name,'  and  enaid,  '  soul,' 
that  I  cannot  help  referring  the  two  words  to 
one  and  the  same  origin,  especially  when  I  see 
the  same  or  rather  greater  similarity  illustrated 
by  the  Irish  words  ainm,  '  name,'  and  aniriy 
'  soul.'  " 

This  similarity  between  the  Irish  words  so 
pervades  the  declension  of  them,  that  a  beginner 
frequently  falls  into  the  error  of  confounding 
them  as  mediaeval  texts.  Take,  for  instance, 
the  genitive  singular  anma,  wliich  may  mean 
either  "  animse  "  or  "  nominis  " ;  the  nominative 
plural  anmanna,  which  may  be  either  "  animse  " 
or  "  nomina  " ;  and  anmann,  either  "  animarum  " 
or  "  nominum,"  as  the  dative  anmannaib  may 
likewise  be  either  "  animabus,"  or  "  nominibus." 


230  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

In  fact,  one  is  tempted  to  suppose  that  the 
partial  differentiation  of  the  Irish  forms  was  only 
brought  about  under  the  influence  of  Latin  with 
its  distinct  forms  of  anima  and  nomen.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  the  direct  teaching  of  the  Celtic  vocables 
is  that  they  are  all  to  be  referred  to  the  same 
origin  in  the  Aryan  word  for  breath  or  breathing, 
which  is  represented  by  such  words  as  Latin 
anima,  Welsh  anadl,  "  breath,"  and  Gothic  anan, 
"  blow "  or  "  breathe,"  whence  the  compound 
preterite  "  uz-on,"  twice  used  in  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  St.  Mark's  Gospel  to  render  s^envsua-s, 
"  gave  up  the  ghost."  Lastly,  the  lesson  which 
the  words  in  question  contain  for  the  student 
of  man  is  that  the  Celts,  and  certain  other  widely 
separated  Aryans,  unless  we  should  rather  say 
the  whole  Aryan  family,  believed  at  one  time 
not  only  that  the  name  was  a  part  of  the  man, 
but  that  it  was  that  part  of  him  which  is  termed 
the  soul,  the  breath  of  life,  or  whatever  you  may 
choose  to  define  it  as  being.^ 

The  important  bearing  of  this  evidence  from 
language  on  all  that  has  preceded  is  too  clear 
to  need  enlarged  comment.  It  adds  another 
item  to  the  teeming  mass  of  facts  witnessing  to 
the  psychical  as  well  as  the  physical  unity  of  man. 

And   not  only  to  his  unity,   but   also  to  his 
innate  unchangeableness.     In  his  trenchant  Out- 
1  Celtic  Folk-lore,  Vol.  II.  pp.  625  foil. 


THE   NAME   AND   THE   SOUL        231 

spoken  Essays,  Dean  Inge  says  that  "  apart  from 
the  accumulation  of  knowledge  and  experience 
there  is  no  proof  that  man  has  changed  much 
since  the  first  Stone  Age."  ^  The  Dean  has 
studied  anthropology,  to  his  advantage,  although 
at  the  cost  of  his  orthodoxy,  a  fundamental 
article  in  whose  creed  is  the  Fall  and  Redemption 
of  man.  There  is  no  matter  of  doubt  that  human 
instincts,  elemental  passions  and  emotions  have 
remained  the  same  since  Homo  Sajnens  was 
evolved  from  the  proto-human.  Prof.  Elliot 
Smith,  than  whom  there  is  no  higher  authority 
on  the  subject,  says  that  "  so  far  as  one  can 
judge,  there  has  been  no  far-reaching  and  pro- 
gi'essive  modification  of  the  instincts  and  emo- 
tions since  man  came  into  existence,  beyond 
the  necessary  innate  power  of  using  more  cerebral 
apparatus  which  he  has  to  employ."  ^ 

Man  felt  before  he  reasoned.  As  already  said, 
and  the  fact  cannot  be  over-emphasized,  man,  as 
a  creature  of  emotion, has  an  immeasurable  past ;  as 
a  creature  of  reason,  he  is  only  of  yesterday.^  The 
more  unstable  his  nervous  apparatus,  the  lower 
is  his  mentality ;  the  more  is  he  slave  of  emotions, 
among  which  the  element  of  fear  plays  the 
leading  part.     Hence,  the  implanting  of  new  ideas 

1  p.  2. 

2  Primitive  Man,  "  Proc.  British  Academy,"  Vol.  VII. 
p.  12.  3  p.  10. 


232  MAGIC   IN  NAMES 

and  the  acceptance,  with  the  conclusions  to  be 
drawn  from  them,  of  new  facts,  is  possible  only 
in  so  far  as  they  can  be  brought  into  harmony 
with  feeling,  even,  it  may  be  added,  with  pre- 
judices whose  dominance  cannot  be  overrated. 

It  is  to  the  persistence  of  primitive  ideas  and 
superstitions  that  the  facts  presented  in  this  book 
bring  their  "  cloud  of  witnesses,"  among  whom 
it  came  to  the  present  writer  as  a  surprise  that 
there  would  be  included  a  Most  Reverend  Father 
in  God,  "  by  Divine  Providence "  Lord  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  and  ten  Right  Reverend 
bishops  "  by  Divine  permission,"  who,  assembled 
in  Convocation,  avowed  their  belief  in  Magic  in 
the  Name  of  Jesus. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  G.  F.,  103 

Abgar,  King,  213 

Abracadabra,  215 

Abraham,  108 

Abraxas  stones,  194 

Abyssinia,  71,  86 

Acts  of  Thomas,  82 

Adonai,  184 

Adonis,  148 

Ahura  Mazda,  16,  161 

Ainu,  56,  89 

Aleppo,  147 

Allah,  147,  181 

AUat,  147 

Amazulii,  13,  55,  212 

Amenti,  170 

Amitabha,  165 

Andamanese,  34 

Animals,  89  foil. 

Animism,  3 

Anubis,  172 

Apollo,  194 

Apollonius,  120 

Arabs,  13 

Aristotle,  19 

Amobius,  204 

Arnold,  Matthew,  77,  107 

Arval  Brothers,  186 

Astrology,  192 

Athos,  Mount,  144 

Aubrey,  69 

Australian  natives,   3,   39,   51, 

66,  84,  87,  154,  178 
Avoidance-customs,  61,  99 
Aztecs,  34 

Backhouse,  E.,  31 
Baganda,  29 
Baptism,  Isis  rite  of,  8 

Roman  Catholic  rite  of,  22 

Magic  in,  82  n. 


Baptismal  names,  64  foil. 

Baring-Gould,  S.,  143 

Bastian,  Dr.,  1 

Becke,  Louis,  96,  130 

Benefit  of  clergv,  118 

Bent,  T.,  72 

Birth-names,  64  foil. 

Black,  W.  G.,  80  n.,  200,  212 

Black  magic,  11 

Blacksmith- wizards,  71 

Bland,  J.  O.  P.,  31 

Blankets  as  currency,  42 

Blood,  mana  in,  12 

Boas,  F.,  41 

Book  of  life,  173 

Book  of  the  Dead,  164,  170 

Boundary-gods,  178 

Bourke,  J.  G.,  17,  45,  52 

Brahma,  148 

Brand,  16,  23 

Brinton,  D.  G.,  156 

Browne,  Sir  T.,  67,  193  n.,  227 

Browning,  139 

Buckle,  119 

Buddhist  monks,  87,  88 

Budge,  Sir  E.  W.,  149,    164, 

185,  225 
Burnet,  Prof.,  13 

Callaway,  Bp.,  13 
Camera,  dread  of,  24,  25 
Canossa,  116 
Canterbury,  Abp.  of,  232 
Caribs,  84 
Catlin,  25 
Catoptromancy,  35 
Chaldean  magic,  147 
ChangeUngs,  69 
Chinese  Emperor,  110 
Chota  Nagpiir  tribes,  3 
Chrismatories,  80 


233 


234 


INDEX 


Clifford,  Sir  Hugh,  44,  91 
Clouston,  W.  A.,  146 
Codrington,  Bp.,  3, 14,  30,  34,  55 
Collectivist,  religion  as,  6 
Combermere,  Lord,  47 
Confucius,  148 
Congo,  King  of,  18 
Convocation,  206,  232 
Cook,  Capt.,  50,  113 
Cornford,  F.  M.,  3 
Coulton,  G.  G.,  203 
Creative  words,  159 
Crooke,  W.,  73,  134 
Crystal  balls,  35 
Cumming,  Miss,  65 
Cure-charms,  194 
Curses,  173-181 
Curses,  papal,  180 

on  plants  and  animals,  181 

Daevas,  17 

Dahomey,  King  of,  114 

Damascus,  146 

Davies,  T.  W.,  166 

Days,  lucky,  16 

Dead,  treatment  of,  123  foil. 

Death  euphemisms,  103 

Decle,  L.,  216 

Delilah,  16 

Demeter,  120 

Demons,  201,  204,  218,  221 

Dennett,  R.  E.,  40,  86 

Dentists,  celestial,  15 

Denys,  N.  B.,  70 

Devil,  the,  97 

Devil's  supper  party,  99 

Disease  euphemisms,  103 

Dorman,  R.  M.,  14,  25,  36,  125 

Doughty,  C.  M.,  21,  105 

Douglas,  Norman,  23,  205 

Druids,  174 

Dubois,  Abbe,  167,  215 

du  Chaillu,  P.,  17 

Duff-Macdonald,  J.,  85 

Durkheim,  M,,  4,  7 

Ea,  148 

Earth-Mother,  31,  79 
Echo,  36,  163 
Echo-souls,  35 
Edessa,  King  of,  213 


Edwards,  B.,  85 
Egyptian  double -name,  86 
Eleusis,  119 
Elisha,  178 

Ellis,  Sir  A.  B.,  41,  66,  114 
Elohim,  161,  162 
Elworthy,  F.  T.,  34,  209 
Empedocles,  13 
Encydop.  Bihlica,  31,  142,  145 
Endor,  Witch  of,  183 
Eno's  fruit  salt,  20 
Ephesus,  Council  of,  222 
Erasmus,  119,  206,  207 
Ethereal  soul,  226 
Eumenides,  96,  176 
Euphemisms,  88  foil. 
Evil  eye,  73,  101,  209 
Evolution,  keynote  of,  76 

Fairies,  97 

Farnell,  L.  R.,  21,  135,  139,  203 

Fear  as  primitive,  10,  231 

Fighting  cocks,  214 

FitzGerald,  E.,  162 

Flamen  Dialis,  110 

Folk-medicine,  196 

Foundations-sacrifice,  31,  32 

Fowler,  W.  Warde,  4,  72  n. 

Freyja,  223 

Frazer,  Sir  J.  G.,  2,  13,  16,  19, 

26,  56,  72  n.,  109,  135 
Frazer,  R.  W.,  159 
Friedlander,  L.,  204 
Friend,  Rev.  H.,  105 

Gadarene  swine,  202  n. 
Gaddesden,  John  of,  207 
Gal  way  peasants,  14 
Gaster,  Dr.,  132 
Gayatri,  167 
Genesis,  162 

Ghose-Prasad,  Mr.,  102,  148 
Gibbon,  5,  79,  179,  187 
Gildas,  81 

Giles,  H.  A.,  103,  212 
Gill,  W.  W.,  163 
God,  Ineffable  Name  of,  131, 
145,  192 
Name  of,  Part  of,  144 
God-taboo,  137,  142  foil. 
Godfathers,  63 


INDEX 


235 


Gore,  Bp.  202  n. 
Graham,  H.  G.,  69 
Grainger,  67,  136 
Gregor,  W.,  58 
Grey,  Sir  G.,  124 
Grimm,  174,  196 
Grinnell,  G.  B.,  53 
Groome,  F.  H.,  26 
Gubbins,  Commissioner,  47 
Guiana  Indians,  41 

Haddon,  Dr.,  83 
Hair,  seat  of  god,  16 
Hale,  Sir  M.,  217 
Harrison,  Jane  E.,  7,  122,  177 
Hartland,  E.  S.,  12,  17  n.,  20,  31 
Hastings's  Encylop.  of  Religion 
and  Ethics,  1,  68,  164,  166, 

181 
Haug,  M.,  161 
Hausa  tribe,  54 
Hebrew  curses,  176 
Heine,  77 

Henderson,  W.,  67,  70 
Herbs,  holy,  212 
Herodotus,  60,  154,  176  n. 
Hindu  Trinity,  148 
Hirn,  Y.,  223 
Hogarth,  D.  G.,  162 
Holy  of  Holies,  143 
Horns,  209 
Horus,  154 
Houghton,  Lord,  118 
Howitt,  Mary,  30 
Hiiman  natvire  iinchanged,  76, 

220,  231 

Ilarion,  144 
Iliad,  13 

Impersonal  powers,  3 
Im  Thurn,  Sir  E.,  41 
Incantations,  212,  221 
Incarnate  Word,  160 
Indigitamenta,  136 
Inge,  Dean,  231 
Iron-taboo,  72  n. 
Ishtar,  147 
Isis,  8,  149,  198 

Jacob,  108 
James,  E.  O.,  9 


James,  Gospel  of,  222 

Jesus,  21,  82,  98,  143,  185,  190, 

196,  199-207 
Jevons,  F.  B.,  133 
Jinn,  97 

Johnston,  R.  E.,  87,  98,  165 
Jordan,  144 
Joyce,  T.  A.,  55 
Judas,  144 
Juno,  36 

Jupiter,  36,  110,  181 
Justinian,  63  n. 

Kaffirs,  55 
Kalevala,  89,  195 
Kidd,  Dudley,  56,  91 
King's  evil,  115 
King's  prerogative,  116 
Kingsley,  Mary,  12,  29,  57,  85, 

216 
Koran,  162,  215 

Lamas,  215 
Lang,  Andrew,  70,  197 
Language,  concrete,  38 
Lawson,  J.  C.,  32,  35,  96,  104, 

176,  209 
Leaden  ciu^sing-tablet,  177 
Lecky,  W.  E.  H.,  182 
Leitrim  peasants,  14 
Lenormant,  F.,  148 
Leuba,  J.  H.,  160 
Lincolnshire  ague-charm,  197 
Ling  Roth,  H.,  124 
Lodge,  Sir  Oliver,  15,  226 
Lodge,  Raymond,  15,  184 
Lourdes,  82 
Lucian,  12,  118 
Lucretius,  5 
Lumholtz,  C.,  124 
Lustrations,  81 
Lyall,  Sir  A.,  1,  157 

Magic,  anti-social,  6 

black  and  white,  10 

defined,  6 
Maine,  Sir  H.,  47 
Malays,  33,  43,  95 
(1)  Mana  (Magic)  in  Blood,  12 

Hair  and  Teeth,  13-16 

Portrait,  23-26 


236 


INDEX 


Mana  (Magic)  in  Saliva,  17-22 

(2)  Mana  in  Birth  and  Baptis- 

mal Names,  64-82 
Euphemisms,  88-108 
Initiation  rites,  83-85 
Names  of  the  Dead,  121-130 

Gods,  131-156 

Kings    and    Priests,    109- 
120 

Personal,  36-51 

Relatives,  51-63 

Reflections     and    Echoes, 
33-35 

Shadows,  27-32 

(3)  Mana  in  Creative   Words, 

159-162 

Cure-charms,  194-223 

Curses,  173-181 

Mantrams,  163-169 

Passwords.  170-172 

Spells  and  Amulets,  182-193 
Mangarian  Creation-myth,  163 
Manlii,  67 
Mantrams,  163-169 
Manu,  179 
Maori,  14,  68,  155 
Marduk,  21, 148, 162,  203  n.,  218 
Marett,  Dr.,  1,  9,  140 
Mary,  Virgin,  207,  209,  222 
Masai,  3,  20,  25,  130 
Mass,  the,  139 
Menelik,  175 
Mexican  idol,  77 
Milesians,  3 
Minucius  Felix,  145 
Mirfield,  John,  208 
Mirrors,  33 
Mitlira,  173,  181 
Monmouth,  Duke  of,  198 
Montaigne,  5,  18 
Moral  codes,  savage,  83 
Morgan,  L.  H.,  130 
Mother-in-law  taboo,  30,  51  foil. 
Miiller,  Prof .  Max,  113 
Myre,  Jolm,  80 

Nail -parings,  16 
Names  (see  under  Mana) 
Nansen,  F.,  63  n.,  99 
Naturism,  3 
Nereids.  96 


Nikon,  Archbishop,  144 
Norns,  211 
Nxmierists,  193 

Oaths,  181 

Occultists,  186 

Oil,  magic  in,  82 

Om,  148,  165,  167 

Omaha  Indians,  3 

Onomancy,  185 

Ophiogenes,  19 

Orenda,  3 

Origen,  204 

Osiris,  171,  172 

Osmund,  Society  of  St.,  221 

Owen,  Elias,  213 

Pagan   and  Christian  rites,  8, 

87,  221 
Palio  races,  81 
Park,  Mungo,  215 
Parker,  Mrs.  L.,  66 
Parkyns,  M.,  71 
Parsis,  161,  165 
Passwords,  170-172 
Pausanias,  100 
Payne,  E.  J.,  130 
Personal  salvation,  9 
Peruvian  sorcerers,  12 
Peter,  St.,  79,  199-204 
Petherick,  Consul,  20 
Petrie,  W.  M.  Flinders,  189 
Phylacteries,  189 
Pig-taboo,  93 
Pixies,  69 
Phny,  19,  21 
Plutarch,  110,  133 
Pocahontas,  73 
Praise-words  dreaded,  99 
Prayer,  140 
Prayer  Book,  51 
Priests  and  kings,  115 

medicine-men,  79, 

taboo,  117 
Prunitive  ideas,  persistence  of, 

75,  220,  232 
Pythagoras,  23 

Quakers,  138 
Quamina's  debt^  51 
Qui'an  (Koran)  162,  215 


INDEX 


237 


Ra,  149 

Rabbit-taboo,  94 
Rabelais,  135,  142 
Race  feeling,  48 
Rameses  II,  114 
Religion      and      magic       con- 
trasted, 6 
Religion  of  Numa,  4 
Repetitions    of     God's    name, 

166 
Rex  Nemorensis,  109 
Rh5's,  Sir  John,  228 
Rhys-Davids,  Prof.,  160 
Rig  Veda,  159 
Ritual,  magic  in,  7 
Rodd,  Sir  R.,  99 
Roman    Catholic    Church    and 
initiation,  86 
name-day,  73 
sponsorship,  63 
Roman  ritual.  Host  in,  139 
Rome,  tutelar  deity  of,  134 
Rosary,  165 
Rossetti,  Christina,  211 
Rouse,  Dr.,  177 
Runes,  195 

Sabaoth,  166 
Salaman  and  Absal,  161 
Saliva  customs,  17-23 
Sayce,  Prof.,  137,  174 
Schoolcraft,  H.  R.,  128 
Scot,  Reginald,  182,  187 
Secret  societies,  85 
Sehgman,  C.  G.,  129 
Semites,  13 
Serapis,  21 

Seven,  the  mmiber,  193 
Sex,  disguise  of,  100 
Shadow-catchers,  30,  32 
Shadow-soul,  27,  32 
Singhalese,  13,  57,  65 
Skeat  and  Blagden,  174 
Skeat,  W.  W.,  29,  95 
Slack,  S.  B.,  83 
Smith,  Prof.  Elliot,  77,  231 
Smith,  Prof.  W.  R.,  13,  80 
Solomon's  seal-ring,  146,  190 
Song-charms,  196 
Sortes,  210,  211 
Soul-idea,  Egyptian,  224 


Soul-idea,  Hidatsa,  224 

Spiritualist,  225 
Speech  personified,  159 
Spells  and  amulets,  182-193 
Spencer,  Herbert,  12,  14,  49 
Spencer  and  Gillen,  87 
Sponsors,  63 
Statins,  11 

Stephen,  Sir  Leslie,  75 
Story,  W.  W.,  19,  81 
Suetonius,  22  n. 
Sun-worship,  137 
Superstition,  persistence  of,  76 
Symbolic  substitutes,  31 
Symbols,  216 

Sympathetic  magic,  14,  29 
Synod,  Holy,  144 

Tablets,  cursing,  176 
Taboo,  power  of,  36,  77 
Tacitus,  21,  59,  177 
Tasmanians,  39 
Tauroboliiun,  79  n. 
Teeth  superstitions,  15 
Text-swallowing,  215 
Theocritus,  23 
Thief -charm,  187 
Thomson,  Joseph,  20,  25 
Thorpe,  B.,  90 

Thoth,  162,  164 

Thurston,  E.,  29,  166 

Tin  a  living  tiling,  95 

Titival,  140 

Toledo  sjmod,  180 

Toothache    cui-e-charms,    199- 
201 

Torday,  E.,  85 

TouchingVood,  210  n. 

Trepanning,  219 

Trinity-invocation,     79,      140, 
183,  205 

Trimibull,  H.,  84 

Tshi  tribe,  40,  66 

Turgot,  77 

Tutelar  gods,  133 

Tylor,  Sir  E.  B.,  1,  50,  54,  61, 
73,  113,  125 

Unbaptized,  treatment  of,  74 
Unberiifen,  210 
Upanishad,  34 


238 


INDEX 


Vac,  159,  161 
Varro,  19 
Vatican,  79,  116 
Vedas,  167 
Veddas,  52,  99 
Vegetation-souls,  33 
Verbena,  212 
Vespasian,  21 
Voltaire,  213 
Vulcan,  72 

Waddell,  L.  A.,  215 
Wahonda,  3 

Water,  mana  in,  67,  80,  222 
Weidemann,  Prof .,  153,  170,  189 
Wells,  sacred,  82 
Westermarck,  Prof.,  32,  63,  99, 

174,  179 
Whiffen,  Capt.,  24,  227 
White  magic,  11 


Widows,  123,  129 

Wisdom  as  a  person,  160 

Wisdom  oj  Solomon,  158,  213 

Witchcraft,  217 

Withershins,  169  n. 

Woden,  196 

Woolf,  L.  S.,  57 

Words    of    Power,     157,     160, 

170 
Wright,  E.  M.,  15,  69 

Yahwe    (Jehovah),     141,     145, 

179,  182,  227 
Yeats,  W,  B.,  45 
Yellow  Sky,  125 
Yukons,  25 

Zend  Avesta,    16,  214 
Zeus,  181 
Zoroaster,  161 


Printed  in  Great  Britain  by  Richakd  Clay  b  Sons,  Limitid, 

BRUNSWICK  ST.,   STAMFORD  ST.,   S.E.  1,    AND  BCNGAV,   SUFFOLK. 


Date  Due 

if^^MT- 

^*Sm 

^„„.^»*<«**«*°*' 

"^nmrnm 

mm 

1 

! 

1 

f) 

PRINTED 

IN  U.  S.  A. 

